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| - The head of the world chemical arms watchdog expressed "grave concern" on Thursday after Germany said Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director-General Fernando Arias added that the Hague-based body was ready to help any member country that asked for its assistance. "Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, any poisoning of an individual through the use of a nerve agent is considered a use of chemical weapons. Such an allegation is a matter of grave concern," Arias said in a statement. The OPCW chief added that the "use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances" was "reprehensible and wholly contrary to the legal norms established by the international community." "The OPCW continues to monitor the situation and stands ready to engage with and to assist any states parties that may request its assistance," Arias added. Germany said on Wednesday that it was going to contact the chemical weapons watchdog about the case but did not say if it would seek its assistance. Britain enlisted the OPCW's help after the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury in 2018, and the OPCW confirmed that Novichok was used. In the wake of the Skripal case, OPCW member states agreed in November last year to formally ban Novichoks, a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Russia initially opposed the move but relented after a compromise with Western nations on exactly which chemicals should be included. But any request from Germany for help over Navalny's alleged poisoning could trigger fresh tensions at the OPCW between Western nations and the Russian-led bloc at the organisation. Despite strong opposition from Moscow, the OPCW was granted new powers in 2018 to identify the perpetrators behind chemical attacks. Previously, it was only able to say whether chemical weapons had been used or not. A new OPCW "investigation and identification team" issued its first report in April, blaming the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad for a series of sarin and chlorine attacks. While the team is focused on Syria, it can also be used to identify perpetrators elsewhere "if requested by a state party investigating a possible chemical weapons use on its territory," the OPCW said. Tensions have also been high at the OPCW since the Netherlands expelled four Russians in 2018 after alleging that they were spies who had tried to hack into the watchdog's computer system. The OPCW won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for its work in destroying the world's chemical weapons arsenals. dk/lc
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