Russian doctors have given permission for opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a critic of President Vladimir Putin who has been in a coma after allegations that he was poisoned in an attack on the Kremlin, to fly to Germany for medical treatment.
However, Russian doctors claimed they did not believe he was actually poisoned. Their decision fell off a standoff that lasted more than 24 hours over who could treat him, and where.
A charity organized the flight that Navalny sent to Berlin.
Alexander Murakhovksy, the chief physician of a hospital in Omsk, Siberia, said Navalny was diagnosed with a metabolic disease that may have been caused by low blood sugar, and did not believe Navalny was poisoned, Reuters reported.
Navalny, 44, remained in a coma after falling ill while on a flight back to Moscow, with allies claiming he may have drunk poisoned tea before fleeing.
Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, seen here in July, remained in a coma. (AP photo / Pavel Golovkin, file)
“Poisoning as a diagnosis remains on the back burner, but we do not believe that the patient suffers from poisoning,” said deputy chief physician Anatoly Kalinichenko at the hospital in Omsk Freoners.
Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Navalny, has openly criticized the hospital after initially claiming that moving him would endanger his life. German doctors flew to the hospital and stated that it was safe to relocate Navalny, but their Russian counterparts initially disagreed, saying he was too unstable to relocate.
The wife of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, in the Omsk Ambulance Hospital no. 1, intensive care unit, where Navalny was hospitalized Friday. (AP Photo / Evgeniy Sofiychuk)
Western toxicology experts doubt that poisoning could be ruled out so quickly.
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“I understand that he is still conscious, but they are used to such special commands and they say very clearly that he can fly and they want to fly him,” filmmaker Jaka Bizilj, of Cinema For Peace, told the Associated Press. t he had contact with the German medical team.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was unaware of instructions to stop the transfer and that it was purely a medical decision.
Alexander Murakhovsky, chief physician of the Omsk Ambulance Hospital no. 1, intensive care unit where Alexei Navalny was hospitalized. (AP Photo / Evgeniy Sofiychuk)
“It could be a threat to his health,” Peskov said.
Dr. Yaroslav Ashikhmin, the doctor of Navalny in Moscow, said the politician was always in good health, went regularly for medical check-ups and had no underlying illnesses that could have triggered his condition. Ashikhmin said few conditions prevent patients from being transported.
A plane carrying German specialists and equipment needed to transport Navalny landed in Omsk on Friday, later examined Navalny and determined he was fit to be transferred to Germany for treatment. Navalnaya told reports that hospital staff and men – who they suspected were law-abiding – did not speak to German specialists.
Navalnaya wrote a letter to the Kremlin urging Putin to intervene.
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“I call on you (Putin) officially to demand that you allow the transport from … Navalny to .. Germany,” read the letter published on social media.
Navalny has worked to expose corrupt elites, rising to prominence in the Russian political scene. He bought shares in Russian oil and gas companies so that he, as a transparent shareholder, could achieve greater transparency.
While Russia’s state-controlled media ignored Navalny, his investigations received wide attention on back channels and social media.
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Last year, Navalny was taken from prison to hospital, where he was sentenced to life in prison following an administrative arrest, with what his team said was suspected as poisoning. Doctors said he had a severe allergic attack and discharged him back to jail the next day.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
