Germany and Poland have both denied that a so-called "intercepted" conversation between their governments has any basis in reality. The recording, much hyped by Belarus on Friday, discusses the poisoning of Alexey Navalny.
According to the Belarusian authorities, a German official admitted to a Polish official that the 'attack' on the Russian opposition figure had been a planned falsification, aimed at keeping Russia too occupied to get involved in the situation in Belarus. The recording has been widely mocked, and is thought by the international community to have been faked at the request of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"We refute the Belarusian reports about the alleged telephone conversation between Warsaw and Berlin," said a Polish Foreign Ministry statement. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert also denied the allegations, calling Lukashenko's assertions "untrue."
On the released recording, two men called 'Nick' and 'Mike' discuss Navalny's poisoning. The audio suggests that the ‘attack’ was faked, explaining that "all methods" are acceptable during a time of war, and that falsifying a poisoning would keep Russian president Vladimir Putin busy, stopping him from interfering in Belarus.
The men are also heard praising Lukashenko, calling him "a tough nut to crack." That part has been particularly derided.
Navalny fell ill on August 20, on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. After an emergency landing in another Siberian city, Omsk, the anti-corruption activist was taken from the plane to a hospital. Doctors in Omsk says they found no trace of poisoning. Two days later, on August 22, he was flown to Berlin's Charité clinic at the request of his associates, where, on Monday, he was said to be emerging from a medically induced coma. Last week, German authorities announced that Navalny had been poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group.
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