France on Tuesday said that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in hospital in Germany after allegedly being poisoned in Siberia, had been the victim of a "criminal act" and urged Moscow to carry out a swift investigation. "France expresses its profound concern over this criminal act perpetrated against a major figure in Russian political life," the foreign ministry said in a statement. It called on Russia to "carry out a swift and transparent investigation which will enable the circumstances in which this act was committed to be established." sjw/mlr/lc