Putin critic Navalny in coma, aides suspect poisoning

[August 20, 2020]  By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was in a coma in a Siberian hospital on Thursday after drinking a cup of tea that his spokeswoman said she believed was laced with poison.

A fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, Navalny started feeling ill when returning to Moscow from Tomsk in Siberia by plane on Wednesday morning. He was carried off the plane on a stretcher after it made an emergency landing at Omsk.

He was in intensive care and on an artificial lung ventilator in an Omsk hospital, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said.

"We assume that Alexei was poisoned with something mixed into his tea. It was the only thing that he drank in the morning. Alexi is now unconscious," Yarmysh said.

Doctors gave contradictory information about his condition, saying it had stabilised but also that there was still a threat to his life and they were working to save him.
 

There is a long history of Kremlin foes being poisoned or falling ill after suspected poisonings.

They include Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London in 2006 after drinking tea laced with polonium-210, and Sergei Skripal, a former double agent who was poisoned with a nerve agent in 2018 in Salisbury, England.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied involvement in those and other incidents, calling them anti-Russian provocations.

Yarmysh did not say who she believed may have poisoned Navalny but said police had been called to the hospital.

A regional health ministry spokeswoman, Tatyana Shakirova, confirmed that Navalny has been hospitalised in Omsk and said doctors assessed his condition as serious.

"Doctors are doing everything possible to stabilise his condition," she said. "The poisoning version is one of several versions being considered. It's not possible now to say what the reason was."

Navalny, a 44-year-old lawyer and anti-corruption activist, has served many stints in jail for organising anti-Kremlin protests and has been physically attacked in the street by pro-government activists.

He has helped investigations into what he has said are outrageous examples of official corruption, with his videos on the subject garnering millions of views.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny takes part in a rally to mark the 5th anniversary of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov's murder and to protest against proposed amendments to the constitution, in Moscow, Russia February 29, 2020. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

Russia holds regional elections next month and Navalny and his allies have been working to increase support for candidates whom they back.

SCREAMING IN PAIN

Passenger Pavel Lebedev posted an account of what he saw on social media.

"At the start of the flight he went to the toilet and didn't come back. He started feeling really sick. They struggled to bring him round and he was screaming in pain."

Navalny's plane later made an emergency landing in Omsk. Footage posted on social media showed a motionless Navalny being stretchered into an ambulance by medics.

S7, the airline he was travelling with, said Navalny had started feeling very ill soon after take-off and the captain had decided to make an emergency landing at a nearby airport.

He had not eaten or drunk anything on board, it said.

Navalny had a cup of tea at a Tomsk airport cafe before boarding his flight, Yarmysh said.

She drew a parallel with an incident last year in which Navalny suffered an acute allergic reaction that one doctor said could have resulted from poisoning with an unknown chemical.

"Obviously the same has been done to him now," Yarmysh said.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said he was very worried about the possibility Navalny may have been poisoned. "If confirmed, those responsible must face consequences," he said on Twitter.

(Additional reporting by Anton Zverev, Anton Kolodyazhnyy, Alexander Marrow, Gleb Stolyarov and Polina Ivanova in Moscow, Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Angus MacSWan)

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