German foreign minister says Russian ambassador summoned over Navalny

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said it is important that those responsible are found and held to account for the sickening of Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic. Mass spoke after the German government said new testing had proven the presence of the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in samples from Navalny, who is being treated at a Berlin hospital.

Germany's foreign minister says the Russian ambassador has been summoned and told that Berlin expects a full and transparent investigation of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's poisoning. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said it is important that those responsible are found and held to account for the sickening of Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic.

Mass spoke after the German government said new testing had proven the presence of the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in samples from Navalny, who is being treated at a Berlin hospital. Novicok is a class of nerve agents identified in a 2018 attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in England.

Mass says the German government hopes Navalny will be able to make a complete recovery quickly.