According to Alexei Navany’s team, traces of the nerve agent allegedly used to poison the Russian opposition leader were found on a bottle in the hotel room where he stayed before falling ill.
Alexei Navalny collapsed on a flight in Siberia last month. Germany says he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.
It was previously thought that he may have been targeted at the airport.
A post on his Instagram account says: “Now we understand: It was done before he left his room to reach the airport.”
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most high profile opposition figure and a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin, is currently receiving treatment in the German capital Berlin.
His team alleges he was poisoned on the orders of President Putin.
However, the Kremlin denies any involvement in the case and says there is no evidence that a nerve agent was used.
A video posted on Alexei Navalny’s Instagram account on September 17 shows members of his team in a hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk after news of his poisoning emerged.
The post says they were there to gather potential evidence from the hotel to send to Alexei Navalny’s medical team in Germany because they did not trust the Russian authorities.
Several empty water bottles can be seen in the clip. They are among a number of items bagged by individuals wearing gloves.
“It is precisely on the bottle from the Tomsk hotel room that a German laboratory found traces of Novichok,” the post says.
The German authorities have not commented on the alleged finding.
Earlier this week, Alexei Navalny posted once for the first time since he fell ill. He said he was now able to breathe unaided. His spokeswoman said he intended to return to Russia.
Alexei Navalny became ill during the flight from Tomsk to Moscow on August 20, and the plane made an emergency landing in the city Omsk. Russian officials were persuaded to allow him to be airlifted to Germany two days later.
After carrying out tests, Germany said there was “unequivocal proof” that Alexei Navalny had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.
According to the German government, labs in Sweden and France later confirmed the findings. A nerve agent from the Novichok group was also used to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, in England, in 2018. They both survived, but a local woman, Dawn Sturgess, died after coming into contact with the poison.
Kira Yarmysh also wrote: “All morning journalists have been writing to me and asking, is it true that Alexei plans to return to Russia?
“Again I can confirm to everyone: no other options were ever considered.”
The announcement came shortly after Alexei Navalny took to Instagram.
He wrote: “Hi, this is Navalny. I have been missing you. I still can’t do much, but yesterday I managed to breathe on my own for the entire day.
“Just on my own, no extra help, not even a valve in my throat. I liked it very much. It’s a remarkable process that is underestimated by many. Strongly recommended.”
There is a modest police presence outside the hospital where Alexei Navalny is being treated.
There are two armed officers by one entrance and a police van that has been stationed outside for days.
Unconfirmed reports in German media suggest two further armed police units have been set up inside – outside the ward and by Navalny’s bed.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has ruled out a meeting between Alexei Navalny and President Putin after the opposition figure recovers.
“We do not see the need for such a meeting, so I believe that such a meeting will not take place,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Alexei Navalny, 44, is an anti-corruption campaigner who has long been the most prominent face of opposition to Vladimir Putin.
His supporters believe his tea was spiked at Tomsk airport on August 20.
Alexei Navalny became ill during the flight, and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. Russian officials were persuaded to allow Navalny to be airlifted to Germany two days later.
A nerve agent from the Novichok group was also used to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, in England, in 2018. They both survived, but a local woman, Dawn Sturgess, died after coming into contact with the poison.
Britain accused Russia’s military intelligence of carrying out that attack. Twenty countries expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats and spies.
British PM Theresa May has announced that the UK will expel 23 Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent was used on former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
She said the diplomats, who have a week to leave, were identified as “undeclared intelligence officers”.
Theresa May also revoked an invitation to Russia’s foreign minister, and said the Royal Family would not attend the FIFA World Cup in Russia later this year.
Moscow denies attempted murder and says it will respond appropriately.
Addressing the UN Security Council, the UK said Russia had used “a weapon so horrific that it is banned in war”.
UK’s deputy UN ambassador, Jonathan Allen, accused Russia of breaking its obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
He said he had heard the threats from Russia but that the UK would not be deterred.
In response Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, denied his country’s involvement in the attack and demanded “material proof” from Britain to support its charge.
The US ambassador Nikki Haley said Washington stood in “absolute solidarity” with the UK, citing the “special relationship” between the two countries.
The mass expulsion is the largest since 31 were ordered out in 1985 after double agent Oleg Gordievsky defected.
Former spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, 33, remain critically ill in hospital after being found slumped on a bench on March 4.
Russia refused to meet Theresa May’s midnight deadline to co-operate in the case, prompting her to announce a series of measures intended to send a “clear message” to Russia: expelling 23 diplomats; increasing checks on private flights, customs and freight; freezing Russian state assets where there is evidence they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents; ministers and the Royal Family boycotting the FIFA World Cup in Russia later this year; suspending all planned high-level bilateral contacts between the UK and Russia and planning to consider new laws to increase defenses against “hostile state activity”.
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