Scientist Who Developed Novichok Offers Apology to Alexei Navalny

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Russian scientist Leonid Rink, who state media says worked on the program to develop Novichok, poured scorn on Mirzayanov's comments on Sunday.

Speaking to the RIA Novosti news agency, Rink said Mirzayanov, while he worked at the same research center, was an "ordinary" chemist not directly involved in Novichok's creation.

"He has nothing to do with the creation of Novichok," Rink insisted, adding Mirzayanov could not know its "biological effects".

Rink argued that if Novichok had been used on Navalny, the opposition leader would have died.

"He wouldn't have survived if it was Novichok," he said. 

(Writer & Editor: AM/PMA, Agence France-Presse)

Source: http://u.afp.com/3R53