Navalny was poisoned with Novichock: Germany

Alexei Navalny a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday.

An agent of the same chemical family was used two years ago to poison a Russian defector living in Britain.

Navalny fell into a coma on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in late August and is currently being treated in Berlin.

Tests on blood samples conducted at a German military laboratory produced "unequivocal evidence" according to the spokesman.

The German government said it will inform its partners in the EU and NATO of the results of the investigation and will discuss an appropriate joint response.

Russia is already under Western sanctions after its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine six years ago.

Another stand-off with European nations or the United States may hurt its economy further.

The Russian rouble extended losses against the euro after the German government statement.

Novichok is a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s.

Britain says Russia used Novichok to poison former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury in 2018.

Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in that attack, which the Skripals survived.

One member of the public was killed.