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Alexey Navalny \u00a9 AFP \/ VASILY MAXIMOV<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
RT.com<\/p>\n
Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s statement on the alleged poisoning of Alexey Navalny was a \u201cfalsification,\u201d Belarus\u2019 embattled president said on Thursday, citing an unverified supposed intercept of German-Polish communications.<\/p>\n
Berlin has denied the claims.\u00a0“Mr. Lukashenko\u2019s statement is untrue, naturally,”<\/em>\u00a0a representative of the German goverment insisted to news agency TASS, noting that\u00a0“there is nothing to add”<\/em>\u00a0to the statements made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer regarding Navalny\u2019s alleged poisoning.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have intercepted an interesting conversation, which\u2026 clearly indicates that this is falsification. There was no poisoning of Navalny,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the president of Belarus told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, during his visit to Minsk.<\/p>\n Lukashenko claimed the motivation was to prevent Moscow from interfering in his country.\u00a0\u201cThey did it to discourage [Vladimir] Putin from sticking his nose into the affairs of Belarus,”\u00a0<\/em>he alleged.\u00a0“You understand how these people act.”\u00a0<\/em>The Belarusian President also felt it may have been some sort\u00a0of “dirty trick” to influence regional elections\u00a0set to be held in Russia, this month.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t cite any immediate evidence to back up his audacious claim, but said,\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll let you read it, we will prepare and send it to the FSB [Russia’s federal security service].\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The unspecified\u00a0\u201cconversation\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 in Lukashenko\u2019s words \u2013 occurred before Merkel made the headline-grabbing statement, suggesting the Russian opposition figure was poisoned by a\u00a0\u201cNovichok-class\u201d<\/em>\u00a0nerve agent.\u00a0The Chancellor based her comments on the findings of a German military laboratory.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I understand it, a group of specialists prepared for Merkel, for her administration, the facts \u2013 and maybe the statement that she made,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Lukashenko continued. The reason for the alleged set-up was to\u00a0\u201cdiscourage Putin from poking his head into the affairs of Belarus,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Lukashenko told Mishustin.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that it was Warsaw talking to Berlin. Two callers were on the line,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the Belarusian president said. The apparent bombshell intercept was allegedly provided by Belarus\u2019 signals intelligence.<\/p>\n