Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says his condition has improved and he will be able to get out of bed soon.
BERLIN – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s health has improved so he will be able to leave his bed soon, he was being treated at a hospital in Berlin on Monday, while Germany announced that French and Swedish labs had confirmed its findings that he was with the Soviets. Was poisoned. -Era nerve agent Novichok.
Navalny, Russia’s most vocal opponent of President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on a Russian domestic flight 20 and is being treated at a charity hospital in Berlin. Berlin has demanded that Russia investigate the case.
Charit said Navalny has now been “successfully removed from mechanical ventilation.”
He added that he is currently under consolidation and will be able to leave his bed for a short period of time.
Monday’s statement did not address the long-term views of the 44-year-old Russian politician and anti-corruption investigator. Doctors have warned that even though Navalny is in good health, long-term health problems from the poisoning cannot be ruled out.
Talks have been cut off by the Kremlin to answer questions about the poisoning by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders, denying any official involvement and accusing the West of trying to smell Moscow.
Earlier Monday, the German government said tests carried out by labs in France and Sweden corroborated earlier findings by a German military lab that British officials said Sergei, a former Russian spy, was with Soviet-era agent Novichok. Was. Scripps and his daughter, in Salisbury, England in 2018.
Stefan Seibert, a spokesman for the German government, said the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was also taking samples of the novel’s samples to its reference laboratories.
He said Germany had asked France and Sweden for an independent examination of the findings. German officials said labs in both countries, as well as the OPCWA, had taken their own new samples from the novel.
“In separate efforts from the OPCW tests, which are still ongoing, the three laboratories presented evidence independently of each other that Mr. Navalny was poisoned by a nerve agent from the Nuvichok group,” Seibert said.
“We have once again called on Russia to issue a statement on this incident,” he added. “We are in close consultation with our European partners regarding possible next steps.”
Seibert expert will not identify French and Swedish labs. But Asha Scott, head of the Swedish Defense Research Agency, told the Swedish news agency TT: “We can confirm that we have seen the same results as the German laboratory, that is, there is no doubt about these substances.”
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “deep concern” over the “criminal act” that targeted Navalny during a phone call with Putin on Monday, Macron’s office said.
The statement said Maron confirmed that France had reached the same conclusions as its European partners on poisoning. “Clarity from Russia is required in the framework of a credible and transparent investigation,” it added.
The Kremlin said Putin’s call “demonstrates the inadequacy of baseless allegations against the Russian side” and stressed Germany’s demand for analysis of Russian novels and handing over samples to Russian experts. Putin called on German and Russian doctors to work together on the case.
Russian officials have urged Germany to share evidence that led it to “without doubt” conclude that Navalny was poisoned by Novichok. Berlin has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Russia’s intelligence have been made more than once.
Asked why the novels were not sampled, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahre replied: “Mr. Naval was in Russian treatment at the hospital for 48 hours. ”
Once he became ill, Navalny was treated at a hospital in the Siberian city of Mmsk, where Russian doctors said no evidence of poisoning could be found and claimed he was unstable to be transferred. A German charity sent a medical evacuation plane to bring him to Berlin for treatment, which is stable enough for him to recover after being told by German doctors.
Edibeher said, “The Russian side has samples of Mr. Navalny. “Even after the establishment of the result by three independent laboratories, the Russian side is called upon to explain itself, and Russia has … all the information and all the samples needed for analysis.”
Navalny was kept in an inspirational coma for more than a week, as hospital officials said a week ago that his condition had improved enough to bring him out.
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Frank Jordens in Berlin, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Sylvie Corbett in Paris and Jan M. in Copenhagen, Denmark. Olsen contributed to this report.
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