France's independent analysis concludes Navalny was poisoned; Macron speaks to Putin

France's independent analysis has concluded that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-style nerve agent Novichok in an attempted assassination.

President Emmanuel Macron's office said in a statement on Monday: "The president expressed his deep concern over the criminal act perpetrated against Alexei Navalany and the imperative that all light be shed, without delay, on the circumstances and responsibilities of this attempted assassination."

According to the Elysee, Macron on Monday "expressed his full solidarity with Germany over the steps to be taken and the consequences to be drawn from the situation."

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The president also urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to urgently shed light on Navalmy's "attempted murder", after French tests confirmed the use of the Novichok nerve agent, the Elysee said.

The German government had said earlier that laboratories in France and Sweden confirmed its own findings that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

Macron told Putin in telephone talks that it is "imperative that all light be shed, without delay, on the circumstances of this attempted murder and who is responsible," the French presidency said in a statement.

He also informed Putin that France's own analysis had confirmed Germany's conclusion that Navalny was poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent "in contravention of international norms on using chemical weapons."

France has been backing its ally Germany, which has already warned that blame for the poisoning will fall on Russian if it fails to explain what happened.