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The most famous patient in Berlin at the moment can communicate again: after Alexei Navalny came out of his artificial coma a few days ago, he talks to relatives who visit him at the Charité. But as the Kremlin critic’s condition is improving, officials fear for his safety. The Berlin State Criminal Police Office (LKA) is said to have stepped up protective measures around Alexei Navalny. This is what “Spiegel” reports after doing an investigation with “Bellingcat”.
As a result, the number of LKA agents deployed and the density of controls around the Charité station, where Russia’s best-known member of the opposition is located, has increased. The report said the move was in response to Nawalny’s improved health. So the politician could probably remember details before his collapse.
Nawalny spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch was taken aback by Thursday’s “Spiegel” post. “We reported on Monday that she has regained consciousness and is reacting to her surroundings. Otherwise, the article is highly exaggerated and contains many factual inaccuracies, ”Jarmysch wrote on Twitter. She did not substantiate her accusations with concrete examples.
As reported, Navalny passed out on August 20 during a flight in Russia. After an emergency landing in the Siberian Omsk and two days of diplomatic test of strength, members of the opposition politician prevailed: Nalwany was transferred to Berlin to be treated at the state university clinic.
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Doctors from the Charité discovered with the help of a Bundeswehr laboratory that Navalny was injured by a Novichok poison. The federal government said it saw evidence that Navalny was poisoned with the military nerve agent. Navalny’s supporters accuse the Moscow government, which denies being involved in the case. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that senior officials in Moscow are likely to have ordered a poison attack on Navalny. “Any direct or indirect suggestion of participation by Russian government officials” is unacceptable, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, speaking of “absurd attempts” at the beginning of the week.
The LKA does not appear to rule out the possibility of further assassination attempts on Navalny in Berlin. The Berlin police headquarters does not comment on individual security precautions. The Charité board does not provide any information either.
According to information from Tagesspiegel, Nawalnys supporters have assured in writing that they will pay for the treatment at the Charité themselves. From hospital circles it is said that the care of foreign officials is usually paid for by their organizations anyway. Both dissidents and rulers have been treated regularly at the university clinic in Berlin. The patients came from Russia, Ukraine, Libya and Iraq, for example, including leading politicians like the Kurdish reformer and former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. He had repeatedly gone into exile in Berlin and died at the age of 83 in the Charité.
The Navalnys family, who are considered the best-known opponents of the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, also know the story of the Russian-Canadian activist Pyotr Verilov. It was only treated at the Charité in 2018. As reported, it is internally assumed that Navalny will remain in the clinic for another three weeks. Many Charité employees do not know which ward the most famous patient in Berlin is currently in.
