Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny was likely poisoned, German doctors say

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny
REUTERS
Rebecca Speare-Cole24 August 2020

The German hospital treating Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said that a clinical examination has found indications of poisoning.

Mr Navalny, a long-time opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, collapsed on a plane while campaigning in Siberia on Thursday.

He was airlifted to Germany for treatment on Saturday, where doctors have placed him in a medically induced coma.

The Charite hospital in Berlin said on Monday that Mr Navalny may have been poisoned by a type of cholinesterase inhibitor.

A portable isolation unit used to transport Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny
Getty Images

The hospital said in a statement: "The team of doctors examined the patient in detail after his arrival.

"The clinical findings indicate poisoning by a substance from the group of active substances called cholinesterase inhibitors.

Mr Navalny is still in an artificial coma at the hospital's intensive care unit.

"His health is serious, but there is currently no acute danger to his life," the statement added.

Doctors said they have started another broad analysis, adding that the effect of the toxic substance in the body had been proven several times by independent laboratories.

German police officers stand guard outside Berlin's Charite hospital where Alexei Navalny is treated after his medical evacuation to Germany
AFP via Getty Images

Mr Navalny is now being treated with the antidote atropine, the statement said.

However it added that the outcome remains uncertain as long-term effects, especially in the nervous system, cannot be ruled out at this point.

A German government spokesman said earlier in Monday that authorities had placed Mr Navalny under guard in hospital after determining that he had most likely been poisoned while campaigning in Siberia.

Mr Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator who is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, was admitted to an intensive care unit in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday.

Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, speaks with the media outside a hospital
REUTERS

His supporters believe that tea he drank was laced with poison – and that the Kremlin is behind both his illness and the delay in transferring him to a top German hospital.

He was flown to Berlin on a plane organised by supporters, which was equipped with advanced medical equipment, and was accompanied by German medical specialists.

When the plane arrived to collect him on Friday morning at his family’s behest, Mr Navalny’s doctors in Omsk initially said he was too unstable to move.

A medical worker speaks to police officers outside the City Clinical Emergency Hospital Number 1 where Navalny was admitted in Omsk in Russia
REUTERS

His supporters denounced that as a ploy by authorities to stall until any poison in his system would no longer be traceable.

The Omsk medical team relented only after a charity that had organised the medevac plane revealed that the German doctors had examined the politician and said he was fit to be transported.

Deputy chief doctor of the Omsk hospital Anatoly Kalinichenko then told reporters that Mr Navalny’s condition had stabilised and that medics “didn’t mind” transferring the politician, given that his relatives were willing “to take on the risks”.

The Kremlin denied that resistance to the transfer was political, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it was purely a medical decision.

However, the reversal came as international pressure on Russia’s leadership mounted.

It would not be the first time a prominent, outspoken Russian had been targeted in such a way – or the first time the Kremlin was accused of being behind it.

On Thursday, leaders of France and Germany said the two countries were ready to offer Mr Navalny and his family any and all assistance and insisted on an investigation into what happened.

The most prominent member of Russia’s opposition, Mr Navalny campaigned to challenge Mr Putin in the 2018 presidential election but was barred from running.

Since then, he has been promoting opposition candidates in regional elections, challenging members of the ruling party, United Russia.

His Foundation for Fighting Corruption has been exposing dishonesty among government officials, including some at the highest level.

But he had to shut the foundation last month after a financially devastating lawsuit from a businessman with close ties to the Kremlin.

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