Putin critic Alexei Navalny is OUT of induced coma and responsive to doctors treating him for Novichok poisoning in Germany
- Alexei Navalny, a fierce Putin critic, fell ill on a flight in Siberia on August 20
- The 44-year-old was taken to a hospital in Berlin and was in an induced coma
- German chemical weapons experts say he was poisoned with Novichok
- On Monday, doctors said he was out of an induced coma and is responsive
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been taken out of an induced coma and is responsive.
Navalny, a fierce, high-profile critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany on August 22, two days after falling ill on a domestic flight in Russia.
German chemical weapons experts say tests show that the 44-year-old Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent, prompting the German government last week to demand that Russia investigate the case.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been taken out of an induced coma and is responsive
Berlin’s Charite hospital said Monday that Navalny’s condition has improved, allowing doctors to end the medically induced coma and gradually ease him off mechanical ventilation.
‘He is responding to verbal stimuli,’ Charite hospital said in a statement, reporting that the 44-year-old’s condition ‘has improved’.
It noted that he was responding to speech but ‘long-term consequences of the serious poisoning can still not be ruled out.’
The campaigner, an opponent of Vladimir Putin, is in a Berlin hospital after falling ill on a flight in Siberia
His associates claim he was poisoned while during a cup of tea at the airport, pictured
Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secretary, says she suspects poison was added to the cup before he fell ill on a flight and was rushed to hospital
He has been in an induced coma in the Berlin hospital since he was flown to Germany for treatment.
German authorities said last week that tests showed ‘proof without doubt’ that he had been poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group.
British authorities identified the Soviet-era Novichok as the poison used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.
Tests showed he was poisoned with Novichok – the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in 2018.
Navalny was unconscious when he was taken from the plane, and had to be put on a ventilator
British authorities identified the Soviet-era Novichok as the poison used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018
German chancellor Angela Merkel said Mr Navalny’s poisoning was an attempt to silence one of President Putin’s fiercest critics.
But Putin’s spokesman has brushed off allegations that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning Mr Navalny and said last week that Germany had not provided Moscow with any evidence about the politician’s condition.
Navalny is seen as Putin’s most charismatic and potentially dangerous foe.
He has faced constant legal attacks and has served a number of jail sentences.
His anti-corruption organisation was dubbed a ‘foreign agent’ by the Russian authorities.
Police have conducted repeated raids on his offices, and this is not the first time that Navalny has suffered a physical attack.
In 2017 he was left partially blind in one eye after attackers threw green dye used as a disinfectant at his face outside his office.
In August last year he suffered rashes and his face became swollen while he was in a police detention centre serving a short term for calling for illegal protests.
He was taken to hospital where doctors said he had suffered an allergic reaction but Navalny asked for an investigation into poisoning.
Alexei Navalny, pictured with his wife Yulia, has been a thorn in the Kremlin’s side for years