Russia said on Thursday the West should not rush to judge it over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and said there were no grounds to accuse it of the crime, as talk in the West of punishing Moscow intensified. Moscow was speaking a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Navalny had been poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent in an attempt to murder him and that she would consult NATO allies about how to respond. Navalny, 44, is an outspoken opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has specialized in high-impact investigations into official corruption.
