Alexei Navalny: critic of poisoned Putin ‘will return to Russia’

The poisoned Russian opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, will return to Russia, his spokesman said.

“It puzzles me why anyone should think otherwise,” Kira Yarmysh posted on Twitter.

Navalny also posted a photo on Instagram for the first time since he was poisoned, announcing that he was breathing without ventilation.

It collapsed on a flight from Siberia on August 20. Tests have shown that he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

He was transferred to the Charité hospital in the German capital, Berlin.

His team alleges that he was poisoned on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin denies any involvement.

“All morning journalists have been writing to me and asking me, is it true that Alexei plans to return to Russia?” Wrote Mrs. Yarmysh.

“Again I can confirm to everyone: other options were never considered.”

The announcement came shortly after Navalny took to Instagram.

“Hi, I’m Navalny. I’ve missed you. Can’t do much yet, but yesterday I managed to breathe on my own all day,” she wrote.

“Just on my own, with no extra help, not even a valve in my throat. I really liked it. It’s a remarkable process that many underestimate. Highly recommended.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has ruled out a meeting between Navalny and Putin after the opposition figure recovers.

“We do not see the need for such a meeting, so I believe it will not take place,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Peskov was commenting on a New York Times report, which quoted a German official as saying that Navalny planned to return once he recovered.

Navalny is an anti-corruption activist who has long been the most prominent face of the opposition to President Putin.

Navalny’s supporters believe they added tea to him at Tomsk airport on August 20. He became ill during the flight and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. Russian officials were persuaded to allow him to be flown to Germany two days later.

A nerve agent from the Novichok group was also used to poison former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. They both survived, but a local woman, Dawn Sturgess, died after coming into contact with the poison.

Britain accused Russia’s military intelligence of carrying out that attack. Twenty countries expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats and spies. Moscow denied any involvement.