Your trusted source

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron have stressed that it is necessary to impartially investigate the incident involving Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, Sputnik reports.

"The Prime Minister [Trudeau] and the President [Macron] underscored the need for an impartial investigation of the poisoning of Russian political opposition figure, Alexei Navalny," the statement published late on Thursday on Trudeau's website read.

Navalny fell gravely ill during a domestic Russian flight on August 20. His plane made an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk, where he was immediately hospitalized.

Two days later, once the doctors concluded he was fit for cross-border aerial transportation, Navalny was transferred to the Charite hospital in Berlin for further treatment.

Later, according to the German authorities, doctors treating Navalny had found traces of a nerve agent from the Novichok group in his system. Berlin said that these conclusions were confirmed by labs in France and Sweden. Russian doctors had not detected any traces of poison in Navalny's samples. Moscow has asked Berlin to provide evidence, but so far has not received a response.

Navalny's condition has since improved. He is no longer on a ventilator and can get out of bed.