Russian dissident continues hospital recovery
Germany says labs abroad confirm Putin critic was poisoned.
BERLIN — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is able to breathe on his own and briefly leave his hospital bed, his doctors said Monday, while Germany announced that French and Swedish labs had confirmed its findings that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
Navalny, 44, was flown to Berlin for treatment at the Charite hospital two days after falling ill on a domestic flight in Russia on Aug. 20. Germany has demanded that Russia investigate the case, while Moscow has accused the West of trying to smear Russia.
Navalny has “successfully been removed from mechanical ventilation” and is able to leave his bed “for short periods of time,” the hospital said.
Although noting the improvement in Navalny’s health, the statement didn’t address the long-term outlook for the anti-corruption campaigner and most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Doctors previously cautioned that even though Navalny was recovering, long-term health problems from the poisoning could not be ruled out.
The Kremlin has bristled at calls from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders to answer questions about the poisoning, denying any official involvement.
The news about Navalny’s condition came as his associates made some gains in regional elections held across Russia on Sunday.
In Novosibirsk, which Navalny visited before falling ill, his regional headquarters chief, Sergei Boiko, won a seat on the city council. United Russia, the main Kremlin party, which Navalny has dubbed a “party of crooks and thieves,” lost its majority on the council, according to preliminary returns.
Another Navalny representative, Ksenia Fadeyeva, won a city council seat in Tomsk, the city where he boarded the flight on which he fell ill.
The German government said tests by labs in France and Sweden backed up findings by a German military lab that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok. The toxin is from the same group of nerve agents that Britain said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018.
The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons also is taking steps to have samples from Navalny tested at its designated labs, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
He said Germany had asked France and Sweden for an independent examination of the findings. German officials said labs in both countries, as well as the OPCW, took new samples from Navalny.
“In efforts separate from the OPCW examinations, which are still ongoing, three laboratories have meanwhile independently of one another presented proof that Mr. Navalny’s poisoning was caused by a nerve agent from the Novichok group,” Seibert said.
“We once again call on Russia to make a statement on the incident,” he added. “We are closely consulting with our European partners regarding possible next steps.” Seibert wouldn’t identify the French and Swedish labs.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “deep concern over the criminal act” that targeted Navalny during a phone call Monday with Putin, Macron’s office said.