The Italian government has deplored the attempted murder of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny after Germany said on Wednesday it had incontrovertible evidence he was poisoned with the deadly nerve agent Novichok.
"Italy expresses deep concern and indignation at the identification by the competent German authorities of a nerve agent as the cause of the poisoning of Russian activist Alexei Navalny," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"This is a crime that we strongly condemn and which makes all the more impelling the need for the Russian Federation to identify who is responsible for this incident quickly and transparently."
Navalny was flown to Berlin after falling ill on a flight in Siberia last month, and remains in a coma.
His team says he was poisoned on Russian president Vladimir Putin's orders. The Kremlin has dismissed the allegation and has urged Germany for a full exchange of information.