Who poisoned Alexei Navalny?
On the second of September 2020, the German government reported that Alexei Navalny,
leader of the Russian opposition, had been poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent best
known as Novichok. The Russian government's use of Novichok is not a recent phenomenon,
since they utilized Novichok before in 2018 to poison Russian double spy Sergej Skripal and
his daughter Yulia in the UK (Smith-Spark, 2018). As president Vladimir Putin continues to
hide behind wary phony denials and absurd allegations, the chance of an official statement
from the Kremlin diminishes threatening every opposition institution and supporter left in
Russia. Micheal Bociurkiw argues in his opinion piece “Who’s standing up to Russia on
Navalny poisoning? Not America” in CNN that Putin ordered or approved the poisoning of
Alexei Navalny (2020). A theory I strongly agree with as it was Putin who had the greatest
motive and means to order or at least approve the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. In this
response piece I will respond and construct my support for Bociurkiw’s opinion which he
expresses in “Who’s standing up to Russia on Navalny poisoning? Not America” with
arguments based on facts.
On the second of September 2020, the German government reported that Alexei Navalny,
leader of the Russian opposition, had been poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent best
known as Novichok. The Russian government's use of Novichok is not a recent phenomenon,
since they utilized Novichok before in 2018 to poison Russian double spy Sergej Skripal and
his daughter Yulia in the UK (Smith-Spark, 2018). As president Vladimir Putin continues to
hide behind wary phony denials and absurd allegations, the chance of an official statement
from the Kremlin diminishes threatening every opposition institution and supporter left in
Russia. Micheal Bociurkiw argues in his opinion piece “Who’s standing up to Russia on
Navalny poisoning? Not America” in CNN that Putin ordered or approved the poisoning of
Alexei Navalny (2020). A theory I strongly agree with as it was Putin who had the greatest
motive and means to order or at least approve the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. In this
response piece I will respond and construct my support for Bociurkiw’s opinion which he
expresses in “Who’s standing up to Russia on Navalny poisoning? Not America” with
arguments based on facts.
