MERKEL PAID VISIT TO PUTIN CRITIC IN BERLIN HOSPITAL

Alexei Navalny met Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, in a Berlin hospital where he was recovering from a poisoning that kept him in a coma for weeks, he has revealed. He was discharged from the Charite hospital in Berlin last week, after weeks on a ventilator and in an induced coma. The German media outlet Der Spiegel quoted unnamed sources stating Merkel saw Navalny in private. The 44-year old Russian politician confirmed the reports, adding there was nothing “secret” about the meeting, but he did not say when it took place. The Kremlin critic fell ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in August and was sent to Germany for treatment. Several European laboratories confirmed he had been poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet- era nerve agent.