Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny discharged from German hospital after 32 days

The German hospital treating Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny for poisoning said Wednesday his condition improved enough for him to be discharged and suggested a “full recovery” of the nerve agent was possible.

Navalny, 44, spent 32 days in treatment at Berlin’s Charite hospital, 24 of which were in intensive care, before doctors judged his “condition to have improved enough to be discharged from care. acute hospital “.

The hospital said that based on Navalny’s progress, doctors treating him believe that “a full recovery is possible,” but added that “it is still too early to assess the possible long-term effects of his severe poisoning.”

Navalny, the most visible opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on August 20 on a domestic flight in Russia.

German chemical weapons experts have determined that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, findings corroborated by laboratories in France and Sweden.

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During his convalescence, Navalny has been posting regular photos of the hospital on Instagram in recent days, first showing him sitting on his bed surrounded by his family, then in the building.

In a tongue-in-cheek post Tuesday night accompanied by a close-up photo, he mocked Putin’s comments that suggested he may have intentionally taken poison himself.

“Good theory, I think it deserves the most attention,” Navalny wrote in Russian.

“Cooked Novichok in the kitchen. He took a sip from a flask on the plane. He fell into a coma. “

Sarcastically he said that the “ultimate goal of my cunning plan” was to die in Siberia, where the cause of death would be “lived long enough”.

But Putin outmaneuvered me. You can’t fool him, ”Navalny wrote. “As a result, I was in a coma for 18 days like a fool, but I didn’t get away with it. The provocation failed! “

The nerve agent used in the attack was the same kind of Soviet-era agent that Britain said was used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018, and Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders. world have asked Russia to investigate thoroughly.

Navalny remained in an induced coma for more than two weeks while being treated with an antidote. Members of his team accused the Kremlin of being involved in the poisoning, charges that Russian officials have vehemently denied.

Russia has been enraged at the demands for an investigation, saying it needs Germany to share medical data or compare notes with Russian doctors who said they found no traces of poison in her system while she was in a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk.

Germany has noted that Navalny was in Russian treatment for 48 hours and that Russia has its own data.

Germany has also contracted with the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to provide technical assistance in the case.

Last week, the international agency said its experts had “independently collected biomedical samples from Mr. Navalny for analysis by OPCW-designated laboratories.”

The results have yet to be announced.

Charite’s statement was released in consultation with Navalny and his wife, and the hospital declined to comment further on whether he would continue to receive outpatient care there.

Navalny’s team has said that he ultimately plans to return to Russia, but did not have an immediate statement after his discharge from the hospital.