Family and friends of Vladimir Putin foe Alexei Navalny claimed Russia is risking his life by refusing to allow him to be flown to Germany for treatment after he was ‘poisoned’ at Tomsk airport
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Putin foe Alexei Navalny in coma after being 'poisoned by toxin in his tea'
Supporters of prominent Vladimir Putin foe Alexei Navalny claimed the Kremlin is risking his life by refusing to allow him to be flown to Germany for treatment.
Mr Navalny, 44, is in grave condition in a "deep coma" after becoming suddenly sick on a plane from Tomsk to Moscow on Thursday.
He became unwell shortly after take-off and his aides and family believe his tea was spiked with poison at Tomsk airport before his flight.
The aircraft made an emergency landing in Omsk and he was rushed to hospital.
Intensive care specialists, neurophysiologists and anaesthetists were sent from two top Moscow clinics, the Pirogov Medical and Surgical Centre and the Burdenko Centre of Neurosurgery to treat Putin's opposition leader.
Mr Navalny is one of Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics
(Image: REUTERS)
But Mr Navalny's family want him to be flown to a clinic in Germany by air ambulance and claim they are not being given proper details of his condition.
Mr Navalny’s wife Yulia flew yesterday to be at his hospital while German chancellor Angela Merkel has offered him treatment in Germany.
She said: "I hope that he can recover and… he can receive from us all the help and medical support needed."
Hospital chiefs today suggested Mr Navalny is too ill to be moved either to another Russian hospital or to Germany.
Mr Navalny drinking tea at Tomsk airport before he fell ill
Mr Navalny's aide Ivan Zhdanov has today claimed he was poisoned with a “deadly dangerous” substance.
He cited a law enforcement source and added that the "substance" poses a threat to those around Mr Navalny.
He said: “Everyone around should be in protective suits. "
His press secretary Kira Yarmysh said: “The ban on transporting Alexei means a direct threat to his life.
Navalny is a prominent opponent of Vladmir Putin
“It is deadly to remain in the Omsk hospital without equipment and without a diagnosis in the current situation.”
She said Putin’s deputy chief of staff and spokesman Dmitry Peskov had promised to allow Mr Navalny to be moved if needed.
“Yesterday Peskov promised to provide help in treating Mr Navalny and in transporting him to a different clinic.
“Today doctors are refusing to give permission for his transportation.”
Mr Navalny's family want him to be treated in Germany
(Image: SERGEI ILNITSKY/EPA-EFE/REX)
She warned: “Navalny's life now depends on the fact that the chief physician of the intensive care unit has refused to ‘bear responsibility’” – by allowing him to be moved, ideally abroad, in a well equipped flying intensive care unit.
She said this was a Kremlin decision.
She warned: "The ban on the transportation of Navalny is an attempt on his life, which is being carried out right now by doctors and the deceitful authorities that have authorised it."
Politician Leonid Volkov, former head of Mr Navalny’s 2018 election campaign, warned: “The decision is clearly political, not medical.”
He claimed the decision would allow toxins – aimed at killing or maiming him in yesterday’s alleged poisoning – going through his body before foreign doctors got hold of him.
Reports Mr Navalny had suffered a cerebral edema have been denied
(Image: AFP)
“I believe that this is cleaning up after lousy executors as they now wait for the toxins to go through and stop being detected in the body," he continued.
“There is no diagnosis and no analyses. Alexey’s life is in great danger.”
Ivan Zhdanov, director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said: “All relevant documents have been submitted.
“There was an application from a family member, consent from a clinic in Germany and documents for transportation (by air ambulance).
Russian president Vladimir Putin
(Image: Alexei Nikolsky/TASS)
“The clinic's decision is inexplicable and monstrous.”
He said: “The doctors have now locked themselves up in the chief doctor's office.
“No-one is allowed to see them."
Reports Mr Navalny had suffered a cerebral edema (swelling of the brain) were denied.
Mr Navalny talks to participants in a rally in 2017
(Image: TASS)
The hospital's deputy head doctor Anatoly Kalinichenko said: "The doctors are really working now on saving his life."
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov wished Mr Navalny a "speedy recovery" and said the Kremlin. Would help secure him treatment abroad if needed.
He claimed the poisoning allegations were "only assumptions" until tests proved otherwise.
But Dr Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny's personal medic, tweeted: “The transport police found a very dangerous substance in him.”
She did not give its name.
However the chief doctor in Omsk, Alexander Murakovsky, said tests were still underway and would take two more days.
Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said Mr Navalny had "hundreds of enemies including some hardened individuals", pointing to his anti-corruption investigations that attract millions of views online.
Sourse: www.mirror.co.uk
