MOSCOW: Aides of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny said Thursday that German experts found Novichok nerve agent on a water bottle taken from the hotel room where he stayed before being poisoned.
The bottle appears to have been key evidence for Germany’s conclusion that the 44-year-old lawyer and outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin was poisoned with the military-grade nerve agent.
Specialists from a German military laboratory found traces of Novichok on a bottle of “Holy Spring” water Navalny left in his hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said in a video statement.
The discovery “means that Navalny was poisoned before he left the hotel and not in the airport or on the plane,” Yarmysh said.
Navalny collapsed last month on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow after a campaign trip to support opposition candidates in local elections.
Previously aides had suggested he had been poisoned by a cup of tea he drank at an airport cafe.
The 44-year-old lawyer is being treated in a hospital in Berlin and on Tuesday said he was breathing for the first time without medical support.
Germany has said it has “unequivocal evidence” that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent and this week reported that labs in France and Sweden had confirmed the findings.
His ally Lyubov Sobol tweeted Thursday that it was “important to understand that there were traces of Novichok on the bottle in the hotel, (but) that doesn’t mean Navalny was poisoned specifically by the bottle of water.”
He stayed for three nights at Tomsk’s Xander hotel, a modern four-star hotel, and also visited its restaurant, according to transport police.
Navalny’s team, some of whom were staying at the same hotel, collected the bottle and other items from his room after hearing he fell ill.
Yarmysh posted video on Twitter of aides in gloves packing up items left in the hotel room in plastic bags.
“It was decided to take everything that could be hypothetically useful and hand it over to doctors in Germany,” Navalny’s aides said in a statement.
“It was obvious from the start that the Russian leadership would deny poisoning and the law enforcement authorities would not open a criminal probe and carry out an investigation,” Yarmysh said.
Russia’s Proyekt news site published a detailed investigation on Thursday, citing Navalny’s aides.
It wrote that the water bottle was key evidence for German experts because Novichok would have remained intact while it was broken down in Navalny’s body.
It said that aides collected an opened bottle of Svyatoi Istochnik, or Holy Spring, mineral water, a popular brand.
It cited an aide as saying Navalny does not remember when exactly he drank from the bottle.
One of Novichok’s creators, Vladimir Uglev, told the site that Navalny’s survival meant it was likely he only had skin contact with the poison, suggesting it was not in the water.
Navalny spent his last day in Tomsk except for an evening trip to swim in a local river, Proyekt reported.
Proyekt found that the door to Navalny’s room was within view of two security cameras and transport police, who are carrying out a pre-investigation check into the circumstances have the footage.
Despite having evidence for an investigation, a month later, “a criminal probe has still not been opened,” Yarmysh complained.
The anti-corruption campaigner’s suspected poisoning has sparked sharp condemnation from Western leaders, who have called for a thorough investigation and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Russia has dismissed “unsubstantiated claims” over the incident and said its doctors found no trace of toxins.
Germany has not released details of the evidence for Navalny’s poisoning with nerve agent.
Russia has focused on Navalny’s medical tests, saying its own medics did not detect poisoning and asking Germany to provide results of tests done there.
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Navalny aides say Novichok found on hotel water bottle
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Navalny aides say Novichok found on hotel water bottle
- Specialists from a German military laboratory found traces of Novichok on a bottle of “Holy Spring” water Navalny left in his hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk
- Navalny’s team, some of whom were staying at the same hotel, collected the bottle and other items from his room after hearing he fell ill
Columbia student detained by ICE is abruptly released after Mamdani meets with Trump
- Ellie Aghayeva, an Azerbaijani, hasn’t been publicly linked to any of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations
- Mamdani asked Trump to drop cases against other students facing deportation for their roles in protests against Israel
NEW YORK: Federal immigration authorities arrested a Columbia University student early Thursday, triggering protests on campus along with allegations that agents had entered the university-owned residence under false pretenses.
Just hours after detaining student Ellie Aghayeva, though, the federal government abruptly reversed course, permitting her to walk free after an apparent intervention by President Donald Trump.
In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he expressed concerns about the arrest during an unrelated meeting with Trump, who then agreed to release her immediately.
“I am safe and okay,” Aghayeva wrote on Instagram, minutes after Mamdani’s post, adding she was in “complete shock” from the experience.
The head-spinning series of events marked the latest development to emerge from the Republican president’s unlikely relationship with a democratic socialist mayor he once threatened to have deported.
On Thursday, while pitching Trump on a massive housing project, Mamdani also called on the president to drop cases against several other current and former students facing deportation for their roles in protests against Israel.
Aghayeva, a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and politics, hasn’t been publicly linked to any of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled Columbia’s campus. A self-described content creator, she has amassed a large social media following by sharing day-in-the-life videos and tips for navigating college as an immigrant.
Early Thursday, federal agents gained entry to her apartment by claiming they were searching for a missing person, according to a petition from her lawyers and a statement released by Columbia. She quickly dashed off a message to her more than 100,000 followers on Instagram: “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.” A photo accompanying the post appeared to show her legs in the backseat of a vehicle.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Aghayeva’s student visa had been terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes. Inquiries to Columbia about her visa status and how long she had been enrolled in the university were not returned.
In their petition, attorneys for Aghayeva said she had entered the country on a visa in or around 2016. They declined to provide additional comment, including details about her immigration status.
A spokesperson for DHS, Tricia McLaughlin, denied allegations levied by some state officials that agents had gained entry to her apartment by posing as New York City police officers. She didn’t respond to questions about whether they had claimed to be seeking a missing person.
The use of disguises or other misrepresentations by immigration authorities has drawn attention in recent months, after federal agents were seen posing as utility workers and other service employees in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
The practice is legal, in most cases. But immigration attorneys say such ruses are becoming increasingly common, adding to concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.
In recent weeks, Trump has once again intensified his attacks on several universities, including Harvard and UCLA. The arrest would seem to mark the first federal enforcement action against at Columbia since the university agreed to pay more than $220 million to the administration over the summer.
“It’s a horrifying sign that the roving eye of the administration is turning back to Columbia,” said Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia and vice president of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has sued Trump. “The idea that secret police would abduct and imprison students in our midst is something we’d expect from an authoritarian regime.”
Many students and faculty called on Columbia to increase protections for international students following the arrest last March of Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, whose deportation case remains ongoing.
In an email to the Columbia community Thursday, acting president Claire Shipman said that residential staff had been reminded not to allow federal law enforcement into university buildings without a subpoena or warrant.
“If you encounter or observe DHS/ICE agents conducting enforcement activities on or near campus, immediately contact Public Safety,” Shipman wrote. “Do not allow them to enter non-public areas or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”
Just hours after detaining student Ellie Aghayeva, though, the federal government abruptly reversed course, permitting her to walk free after an apparent intervention by President Donald Trump.
In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he expressed concerns about the arrest during an unrelated meeting with Trump, who then agreed to release her immediately.
“I am safe and okay,” Aghayeva wrote on Instagram, minutes after Mamdani’s post, adding she was in “complete shock” from the experience.
The head-spinning series of events marked the latest development to emerge from the Republican president’s unlikely relationship with a democratic socialist mayor he once threatened to have deported.
On Thursday, while pitching Trump on a massive housing project, Mamdani also called on the president to drop cases against several other current and former students facing deportation for their roles in protests against Israel.
Aghayeva, a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and politics, hasn’t been publicly linked to any of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled Columbia’s campus. A self-described content creator, she has amassed a large social media following by sharing day-in-the-life videos and tips for navigating college as an immigrant.
Early Thursday, federal agents gained entry to her apartment by claiming they were searching for a missing person, according to a petition from her lawyers and a statement released by Columbia. She quickly dashed off a message to her more than 100,000 followers on Instagram: “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.” A photo accompanying the post appeared to show her legs in the backseat of a vehicle.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Aghayeva’s student visa had been terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes. Inquiries to Columbia about her visa status and how long she had been enrolled in the university were not returned.
In their petition, attorneys for Aghayeva said she had entered the country on a visa in or around 2016. They declined to provide additional comment, including details about her immigration status.
A spokesperson for DHS, Tricia McLaughlin, denied allegations levied by some state officials that agents had gained entry to her apartment by posing as New York City police officers. She didn’t respond to questions about whether they had claimed to be seeking a missing person.
The use of disguises or other misrepresentations by immigration authorities has drawn attention in recent months, after federal agents were seen posing as utility workers and other service employees in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
The practice is legal, in most cases. But immigration attorneys say such ruses are becoming increasingly common, adding to concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.
In recent weeks, Trump has once again intensified his attacks on several universities, including Harvard and UCLA. The arrest would seem to mark the first federal enforcement action against at Columbia since the university agreed to pay more than $220 million to the administration over the summer.
“It’s a horrifying sign that the roving eye of the administration is turning back to Columbia,” said Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia and vice president of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has sued Trump. “The idea that secret police would abduct and imprison students in our midst is something we’d expect from an authoritarian regime.”
Many students and faculty called on Columbia to increase protections for international students following the arrest last March of Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, whose deportation case remains ongoing.
In an email to the Columbia community Thursday, acting president Claire Shipman said that residential staff had been reminded not to allow federal law enforcement into university buildings without a subpoena or warrant.
“If you encounter or observe DHS/ICE agents conducting enforcement activities on or near campus, immediately contact Public Safety,” Shipman wrote. “Do not allow them to enter non-public areas or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”
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