Russian Politician Alexey Navalny Fools Assassin Into Revealing How He Was Poisoned With Prank Phone Call
Russian politician Alexey Navalny managed to trick his would-be assassins by getting an agent to reveal the attempt on his life.
Navalny, a prominent political foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been the center of the ongoing Bellingcat investigation ever since he was allegedly poisoned while staying at a hotel in Tomsk. CNN’s Clarissa Ward has been on top of the apparent assassination attempt, reporting that it was most likely carried out by the FSB spy agency, and she confronted one of their agents at his apartment building over their alleged role in the Navalny plot.
Ward and her CNN colleagues have expanded on their reporting with a new article about Konstantin Kudryavtsev, an agent who was responsible for cleaning up evidence connected to the poisoning. Kudryavtsev recently took part in a meeting that he reportedly thought was a debriefing with the Russian National Security Council, but according to CNN, he actually told everything to Navalny himself.
From the report:
Navalny, who is still recovering at a secret location in Germany, posed as a senior official from Russia’s National Security Council tasked with carrying out an analysis of the poisoning operation. His phone number was disguised as that of the headquarters of the FSB, according to Navalny’s team and a recording of the call later provided to CNN and Bellingcat.
After Kudryavtsev confirmed his identity, Navalny said he’d been tasked with getting “a brief understanding from the team members: what went wrong, why was there a complete failure in Tomsk with Navalny?”
Kudryavtsev’s responses in the 45-minute call provide the first direct evidence of the unit’s involvement in poisoning Navalny.
At times he is clearly apprehensive about talking on an unsecured line but Navalny, speaking at times in a brusque and urgent way, persuades him that senior officials are demanding a report immediately and says that “all of this will be discussed at the Security Council on the highest level.”
According to Kudryavtsev, the poisoning actually happened because his colleagues planted a nerve agent, Novichok, inside of Navalny’s underpants. Kudryavtsev also said on the call that the poisoning probably would’ve killed Navalny if his plane didn’t land in Omsk where he received emergency medical treatment.
Watch above, via CNN.
