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Years before a Russian poison control squad nearly killed Alexei Navalny by planting a Novichok-like nerve agent in his underpants, the same group was honing their skills on other Russian opposition figures, according to a new report from Bellingcat.
The same agents who Bellingcat said stalked, followed and spied on Navalny for more than three years, also followed three other Russian dissidents, including Kremlin critic and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who, like assassinated Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi , contributed The Washington post.
Kara-Murza was poisoned twice, both incidents leaving him in a prolonged coma while his vital organs shut down. Like the alleged poisoning of Navalny, Russian authorities have refused to investigate the attacks on Kara-Murza despite international outcry.
According to the Bellingcat report, two Russian hospitals and three independent examinations concluded that Kara-Murza had been poisoned by an unidentified substance.
Using the travel records, Bellingcat concluded that the same FSB poison control team that followed Navalny had also shown up to where Kara-Murza was for months before her first poisoning in 2015 and followed him back to ‘to be poisoned in 2017. destinations with 14 overlapping flights – makes a coincident overlap statistically implausible,’ according to the Bellingcat report. On at least one occasion, while following the journalist, the team was accompanied by Roman Mezentsev, who headed the FSB’s Directorate for Constitutional Protection and Counterterrorism. Bellingcat says Mezentsev was a close ally of Vladislav Surkov, Putin’s former adviser known in Kremlin circles as the Gray Cardinal.
At least two members of the same poison control team have also reportedly followed Russian anti-corruption activist Nikita Isaev in the weeks leading up to his death on a train ride from Tambov to Moscow in 2019.
The investigative group says it focused on the activities of the FSB poison control team outside Moscow because the overlap between agents and potential victims is more difficult to refute, but they don’t do not rule out that officers actually prefer to kill away from home. “This may be due to either the alleged poor quality of emergency medical services in these areas; due to the relative ease of access to a target’s hotel room during travel; or even because of the long-haul trips expected by their targets during which medical care would be hampered, ”Bellingcat reports. “However, the observed preference of the FSB team for poisonings ‘outside of Moscow’ can also be used as an indicator to determine their likely complicity with Moscow-based operations. It’s safe to assume – and this is corroborated by data from the Navalny and Isaev cases – that the team is typically the target of political assassination for at least several months before a coup is launched.
Because Kara-Murza received treatment for her poisoning in the United States, The Washington post called on the Biden administration to release information about the substance used and its ban, which could open the door to sanctions or more. At the end of last month, the To post The editorial board wrote that since the bureau is “investigating this case as a case of intentional poisoning,” it should release the details. “He declined to release the results of his lab tests, which could show whether Mr. Kara-Murza, like Mr. Navalny and other Kremlin targets, was attacked with a banned chemical weapon.
The To post also petitioned unsuccessfully to members of Congress, including Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is a prominent member of the intelligence committee who is said to be aware of the details of the case. “In light of the series of attacks on opponents of the Kremlin and the imperative to hold the Putin regime accountable, this is not acceptable,” To post the editorial board wrote. “New Attorney General Merrick Garland should order the FBI to disclose what he knows about Mr. Kara-Murza.”
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