Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the directive to poison a Russian opposition leader likely came from high up in the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Alexei Navalny went into a coma after being poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in Siberia. He was airlifted to Germany for treatment after Russian doctors attempted to keep him in the country. He has since woken, but the long-term damage done is unclear. Speaking to conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, Pompeo said, “I think people all around the world see this kind of activity for what it is. And when they see the effort to poison a dissident, and they recognize that there is a substantial chance that this actually came from senior Russian officials, I think this is not good for the Russian people. I think it’s not good for Russia.” Pompeo’s comments went further than the president’s—Trump has declined to criticize Russia for the incident and said on Friday that there was “not any proof yet” of Kremlin involvement.
