Russian opponent Alexei Navalny in “stable” condition in Berlin

The Russian opponent, possibly poisoned, was airlifted to Germany, was hospitalized in Berlin on Saturday in “stable” condition.

A medical plane chartered by a German NGO arrived at Omsk airport on Friday morning. German doctors were able to examine Alexei Navalny, 44, and said they would be able to transport him to Berlin for treatment.

According to the Flightradar24 site, which monitors air traffic, the medical plane carrying Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny landed on August 22 in the morning at Berlin airport. The private aircraft which took off at 3:49 a.m. (French time) from the city of Omsk, in Siberia, landed on the tarmac at Tegel Airport, located in the northwest of the German capital, at around 8.47 a.m. the Flightradar24 website.

The spokesperson for the opponent, Kira Iarmych, confirmed the arrival of the device. “The plane with Alexei has just landed in Berlin,” she wrote on Twitter. It was originally scheduled to land at Schönefeld Airport in the southeast of the city, according to the site, which tracks the movement of planes in real time around the world.

But he finally headed for the other airport in the German capital, Tegel, and landed in the military part of this airport where many ambulances were waiting, according to the German daily “Bild”.

The convoy escorted by the police and including two yellow ambulances arrived shortly after 10:20 am local time at the emergency department of the Charité hospital, after a day of tug-of-war between his relatives and Russian doctors over his evacuation.

Alexei Navalny was traveling from Tomsk, Siberia, to Moscow by plane when he became unwell. The aircraft had to make an emergency landing in Omsk. The opponent was admitted to hospital there and placed in intensive care with artificial respiration. He is currently in a coma, in serious condition.

Those around him claim that he was the victim of “intentional poisoning”, “with something mixed with his tea”. Russian doctors have assured them that they have detected “no poison” in the blood and urine of Alexey Navalny, claiming to favor the hypothesis of a “carbohydrate imbalance”, caused by a drop in blood sugar levels .

The regional interior ministry said police took an industrial chemical from the man and his luggage, but doctors said it would not have made him feel unwell.

For its part, the Ministry of Health of the Omsk region said on Saturday that “caffeine and alcohol were found in the urine” of the opponent. “No convulsive or synthetic poison has been discovered,” the ministry statement said.

But Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Iarmych said as early as Thursday that he had neither drunk nor taken any medicine.

The hospital finally gave its agreement in the evening, after the examination by the German doctors of the patient, a letter from his wife Yulia Navalnaya asking President Vladimir Putin to authorize the evacuation, and after the family of the opponent appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

“Thank you all for your perseverance. Without your support, we couldn’t have taken him! “, Thanked the opponent’s wife, Yulia Navalnaïa, who was accompanying him on the flight on Instagram.

Russian opponent Alexei Navalny was transported to the Charité hospital in Berlin, where another Russian opponent, Piotr Verzilov, was treated in 2018 by the same NGO, Cinema for Peace. The latter, cured, had also denounced poisoning.

The main opponent of the Kremlin, whose publications denouncing the corruption of Russian elites are widely shared on the internet, Alexei Navalny has already been the victim of several physical attacks.

Cinema for Peace, committed to the defense of human rights, assured financing this medical transport with private funds but without revealing the names of the donors that it solicited on short notice, according to Mr. Bizilj.

Many Western capitals and international organizations have expressed concern and called for clarification of the circumstances of the hospitalization.

Main opponent of the Kremlin, whose publications denouncing the corruption of Russian elites are widely shared on the internet, Alexei Navalny has already been the victim of physical attacks. “The FBK (Fund for the fight against corruption) continues its work,” said on Twitter just before takeoff Ivan Jdanov, director of this organization founded by Alexeï Navalny.

In recent years, many opponents of the Kremlin have suffered or denounced poisoning in Russia and abroad. The Russian authorities have always denied any responsibility.

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