Russian opposition leader in coma after alleged poisoning
● Emergency landing after he was taken ill on flight to Mosco
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is in a coma in intensive care after falling ill from suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.
The 44-year-old adversary of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin felt unwell on a flight back to Moscow from Tomsk, Siberia, and was taken to a hospital after the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said.
She told the Echo Moskvy radio station he must have consumed something from tea he drank at an airport cafe before boarding the plane early yesterday. During the flight, Navalny started sweating and asked her to talk to him so that he could “focus on a sound of a voice”. He then went to the bathroom and lost consciousness.
Yarmysh, the press secretary for the Anti-corruption Foundation, which Mr Navalny founded in 2011, tweeted: “This morning Navalny was returning to Moscow from Tomsk. During the flight, he felt ill. The plane made an urgent landing in Omsk. Alexei has toxic poisoning.”
She added: “We suspect that Alexei was poisoned by something mixed into [his] tea. It was the only thing he drank since morning. Doctors are saying that the toxic agent absorbed faster through the hot liquid. Right now Alexei is unconscious.”
She later said in a tweet that Mr Navalny’s condition had not changed and he was still unconscious.
The Kremlin said that it wished Mr Navalny a “speedy recovery”.
Navalny was being treated at the Omsk ambulance hospital yesterday. Anatoliy Kalinichenko, deputy chief doctor of the hospital, told reporters that Navalny was in grave, yet stable condition. Kalinichenko said doctors were considering a variety of diagnosis, including poisoning, but refused to give details.
Navalny’s doctor Yaroslav Ashikhmin told the independent Meduza outlet that he was trying to arrange his transfer to a clinic in Hanover or Strasbourg, saying medics in Europe can offer better treatment and determine which toxin he was poisoned with.
The most prominent member of Russia’s opposition, Navalny has served several jail terms. Last year, he was serving a sentence following an administrative arrest after calling for unauthorised protests, and was rushed to hospital from prison with what his team said was suspected poisoning. Doctors then said he had a severe allergic attack.
Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption has been exposing graft among government officials, including some at the highest level. He has previously branded Mr Putin’s United Russia as “the party of crooks and thieves”.
Last month, he had to shut the foundation after a financially devastating lawsuit from Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close ties to the Kremlin.
Last week Belarus’ president Alexander Lukashenko accused Navalny of organising unprecedented mass protests against his re-election that have rocked Russia’s ex-soviet neighbour in recent weeks. He did not, however, provide any evidence and that claim was one of many blaming foreign forces for the unrest.
Like many opposition politicians in Russia, Navalny has been frequently detained by law enforcement and harassed by pro-kremlin groups. In 2017, he was attacked by several men who threw antiseptic in his face, damaging one eye.
Navalny campaigned to challenge Putin in the 2018 presidential election, but was barred from running.
He set up campaign offices across Russia and has since been putting forward opposition candidates in regional elections, challenging members of Russia’s ruling party, United Russia.