Vladimir Putin critic and prominent Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is being treated in Germany after being moved by air ambulance from Siberia. His supporters believe he was poisoned; the Kremlin denies this.
Image: DW/V. Esipov
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Russian dissident politician Alexei Navalny landed at Berlin Tegel airport after being airlifted from a hospital in Omsk, Russia. He is being treated for suspected poisoning at Berlin's Charite hospital.
The German military brought him to the hospital from the airport in an intensive care transporter, according to dpa news agency. The Russian opposition leader is currently in a coma and breathing through a ventilator.
Jaka Bizilj, founder of Cinemas for Peace, the German NGO that funded Navalny's flight to Berlin, told DW that the politician was in stable condition.
"The good news is that he's stable, so the whole travel did not affect him," Bizilj said. "But there is no reason to celebrate, because he is in a very critical condition. So the real work starts now with the doctors at the Charite," he added.
Berlin's Charite hospital confirmed in a statement that it had admitted Navalny and was carrying out an "extensive medical diagnosis."
Navalny's wife Yulia visited the Russian opposition leader in the hospital on Sunday, making no comments to reporters. She was accompanied by one of her husband's aides.
The German government said it "hopes that the treatment at Charite leads to an improvement in his condition and enables a full recovery," according to an official spokesperson.
Bizilj said Navalny's family was relieved that he was now "in a first-class hospital" and would have access to good treatment, but he noted that his recovery would likely take a long time.
"As we have heard from the doctors, if there would not have been this emergency landing in Omsk, if they would've tried to fly on to Moscow, he would have died," Bizilj said.
Navalny is being treated for suspected poisoning at Berlin's Charite hospitalImage: Reuters/C. Mang
Wrangling between Germany and Russia
Navalny left Russia early Saturday on a flight bound for Germany following more than 24 hours of wrangling between German and Russian medics.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among those who pushed for a speedy transfer for Navalny to Germany.
Shortly before takeoff, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter that he had boarded the plane.
"The fight for Alexei's life and health is just beginning and there is a long way to go, but at least the first step has been taken," she said.
Navalny was rushed to hospital in Omsk on Thursday, he fell into a coma after a suspected poisoning. But Russian doctors have said there is no evidence of poisoning, claiming Navalny has a "metabolic disorder."
Russia gave permission for the NGO to transfer the 44-year-old to the German capital from Siberia on Friday. Initially, Russian medical professionals said he was not in a fit state to travel, but relented when the German doctors declared he could be transported.
Poisoning has been used by intelligence agencies for over a century and the latest alleged victim is Putin critic Alexei Navalny. Toxins and even nerve agents, hidden in food or drink, are often the weapons of choice.
Image: Imago Images/Itar-Tass/S. Fadeichev
Alexei Navalny
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was rushed to hospital in Siberia after being taken ill on a flight to Moscow. His aides allege he was poisoned in revenge for his campaigns against corruption. The 44-year-old ex-lawyer apparently only drank black tea before taking off from Omsk airport, which his team think was laced with a toxin that put him in a coma.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/K. Kudrayavtsev
Pyotr Verzilov
In 2018, Russian-Canadian activist Pyotr Verzilov was reported to be in a critical condition after allegedly being poisoned in Moscow. It happened shortly after he gave a TV interview criticizing Russia's legal system. Verzilov, the unofficial spokesman for the rock group Pussy Riot, was transferred to a hospital in Berlin where doctors said it was "highly probable" that he had been poisoned.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tass/A. Novoderezhkin
Sergei Skripal
Sergei Skripal, a 66-year-old former Russian spy, was found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping center in the British city of Salisbury after he was exposed to what was later revealed to be the nerve agent Novichok. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the situation "tragic" but said, "We don't have information about what could be the cause" of the incident.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tass
Kim Jong Nam
The estranged half-brother of Kim Jong Un was killed on February 13, 2018 at Kuala Lumpur airport after two women allegedly smeared the chemical nerve agent VX on his face. In February, a Malaysian court heard that Kim Jong Nam had been carrying a dozen vials of antidote for the deadly nerve agent VX in his backpack at the time of the poisoning.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Kambayashi
Alexander Litvinenko
Former Russian spy Litvinenko had worked for the Federal Security Service (FSB) before he defected to Britain, where he became a journalist and wrote two books of accusations against the FSB and Putin. He became ill after meeting with two former KGB officers and died on November 23, 2006. A government inquiry found he was killed by radioactive polonium-210 which it alleged the men put in his tea.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kaptilkin
Viktor Kalashnikov
In November 2010, doctors at Berlin's Charité hospital discovered high levels of mercury had been found in a Russian dissident couple working in Berlin. Kalashnikov, a freelance journalist and former KGB colonel, had 3.7 micrograms of mercury per litre of blood, while his wife had 56 micrograms. A safe level is 1-3 micrograms. Viktor reportedly told German magazine Focus that "Moscow poisoned us."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/RIA Novosti
Viktor Yushchenko
Ukrainian opposition leader Yushchenko became sick in September 2004 and was diagnosed with acute pancreatis caused by a viral infection and chemical substances. The illness resulted in facial disfigurement, with pockmarks, bloating and jaundice. Doctors said the changes to his face were from chloracne, which is a result of dioxin poisoning. Yushchenko claimed government agents poisoned him.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Leodolter
Khaled Meshaal
On September 25, 1997, Israel's intelligence agency attempted to assassinate Hamas leader Meshaal, under orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Two agents sprayed a poisonous substance into Meshaal's ear as he walked into the Hamas offices in Amman, Jordan. The assassination attempt was unsuccessful and not long afterward the two Israeli agents were captured.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Sazonov
Georgi Markov
In 1978, Bulgarian dissident Markov was waiting at a bus stop after a shift at the BBC when he felt a sharp jab in his thigh. He turned to see a man picking up an umbrella. A small bump appeared where he felt the jab and four days later he died. An autopsy found he'd been killed by a small pellet containing a 0.2-milligram dose of ricin. Many believe the poisoned dart was fired from the umbrella.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/epa/Stringer
Grigori Rasputin
On December 30, 1916, mystic and spiritual healer Rasputin arrived at Yusupov Palace in St Petersburg at the invitation Prince Felix Yusupov. There, Prince Yusupov offered Rasputin cakes laced with potassium cyanide but he just kept eating them. Yusupov then gave him wine in a cyanide-laced wine glasses, but still Rasputin continued to drink. With the poison failing, Rasputin was shot and killed.
Navalny's supporters said the delay in giving permission for him to be transferred was a ploy to stall his treatment until there was no more poison in his system. The Kremlin denied the claim.
Like many other opposition politicians in Russia, Navalny has frequently been detained by law enforcement and pro-Kremlin groups.
Sergei Guriev, a Russian economist and friend of Navalny, told DW that while it was not clear who was behind the attack on Navalny's life, it was evident the Kremlin responsible for doing nothing against people who sought to hurt the politician.
"It is very important to remember, it’s not the first attack on Navalny using chemical agents," Guriev said.
Navalny was rushed to hospital in 2017 from jail in what doctors called a "severe allergic reaction" but supporters suspect may have been a poisoning.
Guriev said that upcoming regional elections could have put the opposition politician in the spotlight. "Navalny still is a very effective communicator," he said, noting that his weekly youtube channel has millions of views.
"Of course the government didn’t want him to be on air in the coming weeks until this election," Guriev added.
Guriev believes the attack on his life won't deter Navalny and thinks he could even return to Russia, once he has recovered.
"The fact that he’s been attacked before and still continued his very important work, I would think that he will actually come back, he will not stop his fight," he said.
