'I know everyone who tried to kill me': the names of those involved in the poisoning of Navalny are named

The results of a joint investigation by Bellingcat, The Insider and CNN with the participation of Der Spiegel showed that the assassination attempt on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Tomsk was the work of a group of FSB operatives. Writes about this «Medusa».

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The authors of the investigation were able to establish the identities of these eight FSB officers by comparing mobile phone billing data with other databases. After reviewing air travel information, the authors found that members of this group had followed Navalny to dozens of Russian cities since 2017. As a rule, wherever a politician flew, operatives, two or three people in different compositions, were sent after him. They purchased tickets under their own names and pseudonyms, did not choose the flights Navalny was on, and often even flew from other airports. Their activity had two peaks - in 2017, when Navalny announced his desire to participate in the presidential elections, and in 2020.

Investigators named the names and pseudonyms of the FSB officers involved in the poisoning of Navalny. These are Stanislav Makshakov, who is considered to be the head of the operation, as well as Oleg Tayakin ("Tarasov"), Alexei Alexandrov ("Frolov"), Ivan Osipov ("Spiridonov"), Konstantin Kudryavtsev ("Sokolov"), Alexey Krivoshchekov, Mikhail Shvets (" Stepanov "), Vladimir Panyaev. The operation was supposedly conducted by Makshakov, the data from the phones show regular calls and the exchange of messages by other members of the group with him. In the past, Makshakov worked at the State Institute of Organic Synthesis Technology. The development of chemical weapons was carried out there, until Russia officially stopped them in 2017.

On the subject: Navalny sues Peskov over allegations of working for the CIA

Aleksandrov, Osipov and Panyaev flew to Novosibirsk and Tomsk with Navalny. They used dummy phones, so their movements could not be determined, but twice during the trip Aleksandrov turned on his main number. The first time this happened near the hotel in Novosibirsk, where Navalny’s employee Maria Pevchikh lived, the second time - near the hotel where Navalny himself lived.

When it turned out that the oppositionist had survived, all three participants in the operation handed over their tickets to Moscow and flew to Gorno-Altaisk, where Tayakin also flew. Investigators believe that from there the group went to Biysk, to the Institute for Problems of Chemical and Energy Technologies, in order to get rid of clothes with traces of Novichk. During their movements, the participants in the operation contacted by phone with the director of the Institute of Forensic Science, Colonel-General Kirill Vasiliev, and the deputy director of the FSB's scientific and technical service, Major-General Vladimir Bogdanov. Makshakov also called Oleg Demidov, a chemical weapons expert, who had previously worked at the military institute in charge of Novichok.

Who Poisoned Alexey Navalny- our investigation with the incredible @christogrozev of @bellingcat in cooperation with @the mirror and @the_ins_ru pic.twitter.com/M0zCD8fLEj

- Clarissa Ward (@clarissaward) December 14, 2020

Investigators are also confident that the poisoning in Tomsk is the second attempt to poison Navalny. The first in 2020 occurred in Kaliningrad, then Alexei’s wife Yulia was injured.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

Commenting on the results of the investigation, Navalny called the incident "state terrorism."

“These are not FSB officers working for an oligarch or an official whom I offended with my investigation. An entire department of the FSB, under the leadership of high-ranking leaders, has been conducting an operation for two years, during which they try several times to kill me and my family members by obtaining chemical weapons from a secret state laboratory. Of course, an operation of such a scale and duration cannot be organized by anyone other than the head of the FSB [Alexander] Bortnikov, and he would never have dared to do this without the order of [President Vladimir] Putin,” the politician said.

“I know who wanted to kill me. I know where they live. I know where they work. I know their real names. I know their fake names. I have photographs of them,” wrote Alexey Navalny on his official website.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• On the morning of August 20, during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Alexei Navalny, felt sick on the plane. The liner made an emergency landing in Omsk, where Navalny was hospitalized in the emergency hospital No. 1, in the toxic intensive care unit. There the politician fell into a coma.
• Ex-FSB officer and opposition politician Gennady Gudkov toldwhy Navalny's associates and other politicians call the version of the involvement of the special services a priority, as well as how and with what the oppositionist could have been poisoned.
• August 21, the wife of Alexei Navalny Julia signed permission to transport her husband for treatment in Germany. On the morning of August 22, Navalny taken by plane to Berlin... He was still in a coma.
• The clinic where Navalny was taken confirmed the assumptions about his poisoning... Clinical studies have indicated a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors.
• Transportation of an opposition politician to Germany on a special medical plane paid for by Russian businessman Boris Ziminwho now lives in the United States.
• In the United States Department of Commerce сообщилиthat Washington has good reason to believe that the research institutes (SRIs) of the Russian Defense Ministry are involved in the development of chemical and biological weapons.
• September 4th German laboratory found traces of Novichok in Navalny's skin, blood and urine samples.
• On September 7, the Charite clinic, where Alexei Navalny was located, released a new message: politics brought out of an artificial coma and began to gradually disconnect from the ventilator.
• On September 10, it became known that Navalny completely recovered, memory and speech returned to him.
• September 15 politician for the first time since poisoning posted a photo on Instagram. The New York Times writes that he intends to return to Russia.
• On September 23rd, the clinic announced that Navalny was discharged... In total, he spent 32 days in a German hospital.
• In November, the US Congress condemned the poisoning of Navalny and called on the United States and the international community to impose sanctions against those involved.

Read also on ForumDaily:

U.S. Congress calls for sanctions for Navalny's poisoning

'Most destructive in history': the United States accused Russian hackers of cyberattacks around the world

'It is important that the US president be against': Navalny called on Trump to condemn his poisoning

'I just knew I was dying': Navalny gave his first interview after poisoning

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