Russia accuses West of using Navalny case as sanctions pretext - Ifax

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of using the suspected poisoning of stricken Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny as a pretext to impose additional sanctions on Russia, the Interfax news agency reported.

The statements were made shortly after Lavrov cancelled a planned trip to Berlin for talks on Tuesday due to what the Russian Foreign Ministry said was a change in his German counterpart's schedule.

The suspected poisoning by a Novichok nerve agent of Navalny who is being treated in a hospital in Berlin has stirred new tensions between Russia and the West. Moscow has said it has not yet seen evidence of his poisoning.