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WORLD NEWS Friday 11 September 2020
Russia says West trying to victimize Moscow over Navalny

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV "We naturally prefer that
Associated Press they hand over those anal-
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's yses directly to us."
top diplomat on Thursday Peskov noted that Russian
accused the West of level- authorities had launched
ing accusations of poison- a preliminary check into
ing top Kremlin critic Alexei what happened to Naval-
Navalny without providing ny, but emphasized that
evidence, staunchly de- they need proof of his poi-
nying any official involve- soning to conduct a full-
ment. fledged criminal inquiry.
Navalny, the most visible "We have been left puz-
opponent of Russian Presi- zling over what kind of diffi-
dent Vladimir Putin, was culties could have prevent-
flown to Germany two days ed them from sharing their
after falling ill on Aug. 20 on findings with us," he said.
a domestic flight in Russia. Earlier this week, German
German chemical weap- Chancellor Angela Merkel's
ons experts have deter- office indicated that she
mined that the 44-year-old might be willing to rethink
was poisoned with a Soviet- the fate of the Nord Stream
era nerve agent, prompt- 2 pipeline that will bring Rus-
ing Berlin to demand that In this photo released by the Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey sian gas to Germany under
Russia investigate the case. Lavrov, center, speaks at a meeting of Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Baltic Sea — a sign of
The German hospital treat- Commonwealth of Independent States and Collective Security Treaty Organization Member Berlin's growing frustration
ing him said Monday that States in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. over Moscow's stonewalling
Navalny's condition has im- Associated Press about the Navalny case.
proved, allowing doctors to system. Speaking at a news Office has been directed Navalny had been provid- U.S. Secretary of State Mike
take him out of an induced conference Thursday, For- to independent judiciary ed to the Hague-based Or- Pompeo told conservative
coma. Russian authorities eign Minister Sergey Lavrov agencies and so the Ger- ganization for the Prohibi- radio host Ben Shapiro that
have prodded Germany charged that Germany, man government can do tion of Chemical Weapons. when people around the
to share the evidence the United States and oth- nothing about it while de- Putin's spokesman, Dmi- world "see the effort to poi-
that led them to conclude er Western allies who urge manding that we conduct try Peskov, said Thursday son a dissident, and they
"without doubt" that Naval- Russia to conduct a probe an investigation, it resem- that Russia is still unaware recognize that there is a
ny was poisoned with a mil- into Navalny's poisoning bles the precedent cre- whether Germany has substantial chance that this
itary nerve agent from the squarely expect Russia to ated by our Western col- handed over any informa- actually came from senior
Novichok group, the same accept blame for some- leagues following the Salis- tion to the OPCW. He un- Russian officials, I think this
class of Soviet-era agent thing it hasn't done. bury poisoning incident." derlined that it would like is not good for the Russian
that British authorities said "We're accustomed to un- "If such logic prevails, that to receive the information people." "I think the world
was used on former Russian founded accusations," Lav- would only mean that they firsthand to help investigate has matured and come to
spy Sergei Skripal and his rov said. "When the official put themselves above the the case. an understanding that this
daughter in Salisbury, Eng- representative of the Ger- law, above everyone else," "We don't know what they is not how normal countries
land, in 2018. Russian doc- man government says that he added. have given to the OPCW," operate, and this will prove
tors said they had found no the request from the Rus- Germany's Defense Minis- he said during a confer- costly for the Russians,"
trace of poison in Navalny's sian Prosecutor General's try has said the data about ence call with reporters. Pompeo said.q

China denounces U.S. visa revocations as racial discrimination

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. move fering a long list of alleged cades amid frictions over
to revoke the visas of about Chinese bad behavior but trade, technology, intellec-
1,000 Chinese students few details. tual property and a myriad
amounts to "outright politi- A State Department of other issues.
cal persecution and racial spokesperson later put the Along with graduate stu-
discrimination," China's for- number of visas to be re- dents, the Trump adminis-
eign ministry said Thursday. voked at 1,000. tration has accused some
The statement from spokes- Zhao said the move dam- journalists working for Chi-
person Zhao Lijian came a aged the "legitimate rights nese state media outlets in
day after Acting Homeland and interests of Chinese the U.S. of spreading pro-
Security Secretary Chad students studying in the regime propaganda or
Wolf said his department U.S." outright spying.
was blocking visas for "cer- "It is outright political perse- Chinese students make up
tain Chinese graduate stu- cution and racial discrimi- the largest group of foreign
dents and researchers with nation, and seriously vio- students at American col-
ties to China's military fusion lated the human rights of leges and universities, with
strategy to prevent them Chinese students studying about 370,000 enrolled.
from stealing and other- there," Zhao said. "China New visa restrictions and
wise appropriating sensitive reserves the right to make the global coronavirus In this July 26, 2020, file photo, a woman takes a photo with
research." further responses to this pandemic have already a phone that has a United States flag themed cover outside
the United States Consulate in Chengdu in southwest China's
China was "abusing student matter." created considerable un- Sichuan province.
visas to exploit American U.S.-China relations have certainty about their aca- Associated Press
academia," Wolf said, of- hit their lowest ebb in de- demic future in the U.S.q