The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of the Russian Federation, Ria Oomen-Ruijten (Netherlands, EPP/CD) and Axel Schaffer (Germany, SOC), have expressed their utmost concern following the German Government's announcement that Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok family.
It is a very alarming development which needs an immediate explanation from the Russian authorities. We condemn this attack in the strongest terms and wish Mr Navalny a full recovery, they said.
The co-rapporteurs have urged the Russian authorities to fully shed light on Mr Navalny's poisoning and accept international investigators if such a proposal comes from the international community.