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Russian opposition leader published a recording of a conversation with one of the alleged participants in the assassination attempt.

 

Mr. Navalny informed about his calls to several members of a group of Russian secret service, FSB, who were allegedly involved in the poisoning. One of them was Mr. Konstantin Kudryavtsev. The opposition leader allegedly called using a special application, so Kudryavtsev believed that they were calling him from the Russian President's administration. FSB officers used this number as a switchboard for communication with high-ranking officers.

Mr. Navalny introduced himself as Maksim Ustinov, an Assistant Secretary of the head of the Security Council.  He asked for a clarification of some of the issues related to the poisoning, which were necessary for the report to the authorities.

Had not prompt emergency landing and immediate atropine administered
by the ambulance doctors, the Russian opposition leader would have died.

In a conversation with Mr. Alexei Navalny, a person identified as FSB officer Konstantin Kudryavtsev explained that the politician would have died if it had not been the confluence of two factors. One of them was the prompt landing in Omsk, and the other was the atropine administered to him by ambulance doctors.

If it had been there a little longer, then perhaps everything, as it were, ended differently. You see, it was a coincidence of circumstances, a bad factor in our work, yes, maybe, Mr. Kudryavtsev stated.

The interlocutor of Mr. Navalny also said that the poisonous substance was applied to Navalny's underwear.

At the time of the call, Mr. Navalny already knew that Kudryavtsev spied on him. FSB officer flew to Omsk after Navalny was sent to Berlin for treatment, investigators say. Earlier, the online magazine Insider and the private investigation firm Bellingcat published a report which said that Mr. Kudryavtsev, an expert in chemical protection, flew to Omsk on purpose, as he knew how to eliminate traces of the poison.


FSB officer revealed more possible accomplices in crime

During the conversation, Mr. Kudryavtsev noted that the clothes for cleaning were given to him by "Mikhail" who heads the local FSB counterterrorism department. Mr. Navalny called him too. Mr. Mikhail was identified as Colonel Mikhail Valerievich Evdokimov. He refused to speak on the open line but confirmed that he handed the clothes over to Mr. Kudryavtsev and worked with local transport police officers.

Mr. Kudryavtsev also named other possible participants in the poisoning as Mr. Vasily Kalashnikov, who was not previously named in the Bellingcat investigation. According to online magazine The Insider, Mr. Kalashnikov is an expert in gas chromatography. It is a modern method for detecting traces of chemicals, such as nerve poison, in biological samples.