Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma in a Siberian hospital after being poisoned by a toxic substance in his tea, his spokeswoman said Thursday.
Here are the latest updates:
— Navalny’s lab results show no signs of heart attack, stroke or brain damage, the Omsk hospital’s deputy chief doctor told the RBC news website.
— A plane with medical equipment will be dispatched Thursday night to transport Navalny to a hospital in Berlin, Cinema for Peace foundation head Bizilj said. The German NGO, which previously airlifted Pussy Riot member Pyotr Verzilov to Germany in 2018 after he suffered a suspected poisoning, is still waiting on approval from authorities, Bizilj said.
— French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint press conference said both France and Germany are ready to receive Navalny for medical treatment. Macron also offered France’s help in terms of providing asylum or protection.
— A German NGO has readied a plane with medical equipment to bring Navalny to Berlin for treatment. The head of the Cinema For Peace foundation, Jaka Bizilj, told German media that they are currently awaiting approval from the authorities.
— Navalnaya has been allowed to visit her husband, Yarmysh said.
— Doctors are rejecting requests to transfer Navalny to another hospital, the head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation Ivan Zhdanov said.
— Navalny’s personal doctor, Anastasiya Vasilyeva, said she has asked for official help in obtaining his medical documents and allowing him to be transferred to a leading toxicology center in Europe following the Kremlin’s offer of assistance.
— Doctors are refusing to let Navalny’s wife into his hospital room to see him, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh tweeted. Yulia Navalnaya was allegedly told she needed to show her marriage certificate to prove to the hospital that she’s his wife.
— Navalny’s condition has stabilized, the hospital’s deputy chief doctor said without specifying whether he’s still in a coma.
— The Kremlin has wished Navalny a speedy recovery and said it would consider any requests to take him out of the country for treatment abroad.
— Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged people not to speculate about the causes of Navalny’s illness and to wait for test results.
— The doctor overseeing Navalny’s treatment told reporters that medics were doing everything to save his life.
— Navalny’s personal doctor wrote on Twitter that the hospital was refusing to communicate with her, but that Navalny’s pupils were showing reactions. She said she was on her way to Omsk.
— The state-run TASS news agency cited a law enforcement official as saying that so far investigators are not considering that Navalny was poisoned intentionally.
— Navalny was taken to the hospital where he was connected to a ventilator. He is in a coma.
— The manager of the airport cafe where Navalny was photographed drinking a cup of tea before his flight told Interfax that he would be launching an investigation.
— Navalny’s spokeswoman wrote on Twitter that Navalny was apparently poisoned with something mixed in his tea, as it was the only thing he drank that morning.
— Video on social media showed him being stretchered off the plane in obvious pain.
— Navalny fell ill during a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow early Thursday morning, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in the city of Omsk.
AFP contributed reporting.
