Hospital: Russian dissident Navalny responsive after induced coma ended

BERLIN — Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has been removed from his medically induced coma and is responsive, the Berlin hospital where he is being treated said Monday.

“The patient has been removed from his medically induced coma and is being weaned off mechanical ventilation,” said a statement from the Charite hospital in Berlin. “He is responding to verbal stimuli. It remains too early to gauge the potential long- term effects of his severe poisoning.”

The hospital added that the decision to release details of Mr. Navalny’s condition was made in consultation with his wife, Yulia Navalnaya.

Mr. Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critics, was transported to the German capital in a comatose state on Aug. 22, two days after falling ill on a domestic Russian flight.

Germany has since said there is “unequivocal” evidence that the 44- year- old was the victim of a nerve agent attack, which Chancellor Angela Merkel described last week as an attempt “to silence him.”

A toxicology report conducted at a special military laboratory in Germany found in Mr. Navalny’s system traces of a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas then summoned Russian Ambassador Sergei Nechayev in protest and called for a full and transparent investigation.

Russia has denied that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning Mr. Navalny and has accused Germany of failing to provide evidence about the poisoning that it requested in late August.

German diplomats rejected the Russian suggestion that Berlin was to blame for any delay in investigating the case, noting that Mr. Navalny was first treated for suspected poisoning in the Siberian city of Omsk on Aug. 20.

The Russian attorney general has issued a request for legal assistance from Germany on the Navalny case. Mr. Maas told broadcaster ARD that Germany had approved that request.