On the ability of the West to determine, in less than two hours, both that Alexei Navalny’s death was actually a murder, and that the Russian government and/or President Vladimir Putin himself were behind the murder, the Russian Foreign Ministry commented that American and European press and governments were somehow able to “obtain the results of a forensic examination that had not yet been carried out, conduct an investigation, blame Moscow and render a verdict.” The Ministry then suggested that perhaps the Westerners were simply using a “blame Russia no matter what” template.
Regardless, they noted: “We might be able to believe in this incredible, miraculous speed, if the whole world had not just watched the helpless ‘investigation’ of terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipeline that stretched out over many months and turned up empty.”
The Foreign Ministry compiled some examples, using Moscow time (GMT+3), of the early conclusions of their Navalny investigations:
2:19 Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region announces the death of Navalny
2:35 pm: Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom ("heinous crime") and Norwegian Foreign Minister Bart Eide ("heavy burden of responsibility")
2:41 Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics chimed in with ("brutally murdered") and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky accused Russia of being “a cruel state that kills people who dream of a beautiful, better future.”
2:42 France’s Stéphane Séjourné claimed Navalny had fought “the system of oppression.”
3:02 European Council President Charles Michel stated that the EU “holds the Russian regime solely responsible for this tragic death.”
3:10 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Navalny was “obviously killed by Putin.”
3:20 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte ("unprecedented cruelty")
3:30 Moldovan President Maia Sandu ("blatant oppression")
3:35 German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock declared that Navalny “had to die” because he was “a symbol of a free and democratic Russia.”
Over the next hour, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and finally French President Emmanuel Macron all weighed in with similar comments.
