Navalny’s Blood Showed Traces of Nerve Agent Novichok, OPCW Says

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny goes downstairs at Charite hospital in Berlin, Germany, in this undated image obtained from social media, on Sept. 19, 2020. Courtesy of Instagram @NAVALNY/Social Media via Reuters

AMSTERDAM—Blood samples taken from Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny confirmed the presence of a nerve agent in the banned Novichok family, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Tuesday.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a statement that the biomarkers in his blood and urine had “similar structural characteristics as the toxic chemicals belonging” to the Novichok group.