Boris Johnson urges ‘full, transparent’ investigation into Navalny poisoning

The British prime minister tweeted that the ‘perpetrators must be held accountable’

Alexei Navalny in hospital after suspected poisoning

Alexei Navalny in hospital after suspected poisoning
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Boris Johnson has joined the US and EU in calling for a "full, transparent investigation" into the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

In a post on Twitter on Wednesday, the British prime minister expressed solidarity with Mr Navalny's family and called for united global action to bring perpetrators to justice.

Those responsible "must be held accountable & the UK will join international efforts to ensure justice is done", Mr Johnson said.

The British prime minister’s unequivocal entreaty to the international community comes just days after a group of British MPs signed a letter threatening legal action unless a full investigation into alleged Russian electoral interference was ordered.

The legislators argued that the prime minister’s “lack of action” against the Siberian superpower threatens the sanctity of free elections.

The campaign follows the verdict of parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee in July, which concluded that the government had made no effort to investigate Russian meddling during the EU referendum.

Mr Navalny, a prominent Vladimir Putin critic, is in an induced coma at the Charite hospital in Berlin, after the German NGO Cinema For Peace flew him from Russia on Saturday.

The hospital has said that “[Mr Navalny’s] health is serious but there is currently no acute danger to life”.

A Kremlin spokesperson on Tuesday denied all Russian involvement in the alleged poisoning, and dismissed calls for an international response as “just empty noise”.