Conflict Zone: Confronting the Powerful

German authorities say Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent. The Kremlin has denied any involvement. State Duma member Vyacheslav Nikonov tells DW that Navalny is too irrelevant. So why do so many outspoken Russians face mortal danger?"What do you mean by Novichok?" Vyacheslav Nikonov told Conflict Zone’s Tim Sebastian when asked about the poisoning of Russian opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny. The figurehead of the Russian opposition became ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow in August. Navalny was evacuated to Germany and treated in a Berlin hospital. Nikonov, who sits in the lower house of the Russian parliament for President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, said he "wasn’t very interested in Navalny" and implied Navalny wasn’t important enough to be targeted. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the incident. "Navalny, as you know, was saved by the Russian doctors," Nikonov pointed out. Nikonov compared the Russian opposition figure to Angela Davis, a leftist radical who was one of the leaders of the US Communist party during the Cold War. The State Duma member implied Navalny may have been poisoned with the nerve agent after arriving in Germany. "Russophobia is not something new ... actually, in case of Germany, it started like five centuries ago." Nikonov offered this insight into his thinking. "There is always some truth in propaganda, otherwise it won't work." Asked about the oppression of demonstrations by opposition supporters in Russia, Nikonov said Russian police were polite, especially in comparison to those in the West. "Russian police is much more civilized than German, French or American [police]." The Russian lawmaker also disputed that the murders of opposition figures were being ignored. "Most of the cases of political murders in Russia have been investigated."