Traces of Novichok Found in Navalny's Hotel Room, Allies Say

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was poisoned in his hotel room in Siberia, before boarding a plane to Moscow, his allies have said in an Instagram post.

This clip, posted by aides on Navalny’s Instagram account, shows them searching his hotel room in Tomsk to gather possible evidence. It is there they said they found two bottles of water, on which traces of the nerve agent Novichok were found.

Navalny was hospitalized in Berlin on August 22, after he was airlifted from Omsk, Russia, in a coma after falling ill on a flight.

“[We] called a lawyer, went up to the room from which Navalny had just left, and began to record, describe and pack everything they found there. Including bottles from hotel water,” the Instagram post says.

“Two weeks later, it was on the bottle [from Tomsk] that the German laboratory found traces of Novichok. And then three more laboratories that took tests from Alexei confirmed that Navalny was poisoned. Now we understand: this was done before he left his room to go to the airport.” Credit: Alexey Navalny via Storyful