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Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny showed his shaking hands as he demonstrated the effects of his Novichok poisoning in August.
Meanwhile, the world chemical weapons watchdog confirmed today that blood samples taken from Navalny confirmed the presence of a nerve agent in the banned Novichok family.
Navalny held his shaking hand towards the camera during his first video appearance since being released from a Berlin hospital, recorded just six days after his release.
My hands are shaking. If I had to drink water from a bottle, it would be quite a sight right now, ” she said in the video. ‘I’m getting better every day. I work with a physical therapist.
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny speaks during an interview with prominent Russian YouTube blogger Yury Dud in Berlin, saying his hands continue to shake after being poisoned with novichok. He again reiterated his belief that Putin was behind the poisoning.
“Today, he started teaching me to juggle. You’ll see my juggling, ride a unicycle and pull a rabbit out of a hat, ‘he joked, but also recalled the darkest moments of his recovery.
‘There was a really unpleasant period where I started getting out of bed, they dragged a chair to the sink and sat on a chair to wash myself. It took me three minutes, ‘he recalled.
Then I started eating and started to recover pretty quickly. Now I work as a guinea pig; There are not that many survivors of chemical warfare weapons, and they just control how fast I recover and how to help those people. ‘
Speaking about how long he will stay in Germany to work on his recovery, he said: ‘It could well be three weeks or two months. Definitely not a year, ”adding that doctors have admitted they have little experience in such a case.
Today, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a statement that the biomarkers in his blood and urine had “structural characteristics similar to those of toxic chemicals belonging to” the Novichok group.
The findings confirm the results published by Germany, where Navalny was treated after falling ill on a flight in Siberia on August 20. Berlin asked the OPCW to take samples from Navalny and analyze them after German doctors concluded that he had been poisoned with Novichok.
“Without a doubt, Novichok’s nerve agent used to poison Alexey #Navalny,” the British delegation to the OPCW said on Twitter. “Any use of a prohibited chemical weapon is of great concern.”
Navalny also recalled the moment when he collapsed into a plane knowing that he had been poisoned. ‘The whole body is telling you Alexey, it’s time to say goodbye,’ he said.
In the video, Navalny also reiterated his belief that Russia’s intelligence services poisoned him with the nerve agent novichok, saying authorities viewed it as a threat ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.
“They understood that there were big, big problems that threatened them before the elections for the State Duma,” Navalny said in a YouTube interview with a Russian blogger vDud.
He stood firm in his belief that Putin was behind his poisoning, saying “My version is that it was done by FSB or SVR officials at the direction, of course, of course, of Putin.”
The use of Novichok is “circumstantial evidence that this was, of course, an order from the Kremlin,” he said, suggesting that only a handful of people had access to the nerve agent.
“Maybe it’s five people in the SVR (Russian foreign intelligence) and five people in the FSB (security service),” he said, ruling out a wealthy oligarch or someone involved in high-level corruption.
The Kremlin has rejected any suggestion that President Vladimir Putin or the Russian authorities were responsible for Navalny’s condition.
Navalny said he did not know how a Novichok nerve agent had entered his system, but that he could have touched something.
Navalny’s allies initially speculated that he was poisoned at a Siberian airport shortly before he fell ill.
Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia pose for a photo after the leader of the Russian opposition was discharged from his German hospital following his Novichok poisoning.
Navalny was taken to an ambulance in Omsk (left) after falling ill on a plane following a trip to an airport cafe (right) in August, though his friends now suspect he was poisoned by a bottle of water in his hotel room instead of at the airport
However, his assistants later said that Novichok was found in a bottle of water in his Tomsk hotel room.
The 44-year-old opposition leader emerged from a coma early last month after collapsing on a flight from Serbia to Russia on August 20.
Russia’s parliamentary elections will be held next September, but some reports suggest they could be brought forward to next spring.
During the interview, Navalny also recalled the moment on the plane when he realized he had been poisoned.
‘Unexpectedly for me, I turn to the flight attendant and say,’ I was poisoned, I’m going to die now ‘, and I just lie at her feet.
‘And the flight attendant looks at me with a slight smile, because he thinks, “Well, some crazy person.” He probably thought he was poisoned with tomato juice or pasta. ‘
Navalny’s allies pointed the finger at Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) after the opposition leader fell ill, but the Kremlin dismissed the accusations.
He says that after that, he doesn’t remember much other than feeling like he would soon die. “The whole body is telling you Alexey, it’s time to say goodbye,” he said.
Navalny pointed a finger directly at Putin for the first time in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, saying that “Putin is behind the crime and I have no other version of what happened.”
He previously described the moment when the nerve agent Novichok began to take effect, saying that “you don’t feel any pain but you know you are dying.”
Navalny was discharged from a German hospital last month after 32 days of treatment, but doctors say it is too early to tell whether he will suffer from long-term health problems.
The West has demanded an explanation from the Kremlin, which has denied any involvement in the incident and said it has yet to see evidence of a poisoning plot.
In response to Navalny’s accusation, Russia last week accused Alexei Navalny of working with the CIA.
Navalny poses with his wife Yulia (right) and their children at the German hospital where he was being treated after being poisoned with Novichok.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Navalny’s accusations as “unfounded and unacceptable” and claimed that “specialists” from US intelligence were working with Navalny “these days” and giving him instructions.
Peskov echoed the speaker of the Russian parliament, who previously called Navalny “shameless” and “dishonorable” and accused the politician of working with “the security services of Western countries.”
Navalny told the German magazine that he would return to Russia, adding: ‘Failure to return would mean that Putin has achieved his goal. And my job now is to remain the type who is not afraid. ‘
A political activist who helped bring Navalny to Germany said it would take him at least another month to regain physical form, adding that it was clear he planned to return to Russia and resume political activity.
For now, he is staying in Berlin with his wife and son while he undergoes the lengthy rehabilitation process.
Doctors at Charite Hospital said that based on the patient’s progress and current condition, the treating doctors believe a full recovery is possible. ”
However, they added that “it is too early to assess the possible long-term effects of his severe poisoning.”
