Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Was Poisoned, Berlin Hospital Says
Alexei Navalny Tests Show Signs of Poisoning, Hospital Says
(Bloomberg) -- Tests on Alexei Navalny indicate that the Russian anti-corruption campaigner was poisoned and he may suffer long-term damage to his nervous system, according to the German hospital that’s treating him.
Navalny is in serious, but stable condition, according to a statement Monday from Berlin’s Charite hospital. He was evacuated from Russia on Saturday and has been in a medically-induced coma since Thursday after falling ill on a plane returning to Moscow from Tomsk.
Doctors in Berlin found evidence of poisoning through a substance related to cholinesterase inhibitors, Charite said. The specific substance wasn’t immediately known and will require further testing to be identified, the clinic said, adding that the patient is being treated with the antidote atropine and his prognosis remains unclear.
Ralf Stahlmann, a retired professor of pharmacology and toxicology in Berlin, said the strongest of the substances in the cholinesterase inhibitors group -- which can be used to treat dementia and Alzheimer’s -- are “military-grade warfare agents” and that the poison can be transmitted through food or drink, or simply by touch.
Navalny, 44, was in Tomsk meeting local activists and opposition candidates ahead of regional elections set for September. His sudden illness raised suspicions after a string of Kremlin critics fell victim to poisoning in recent years.
Dissident security service officer Alexander Litvinenko died in London after consuming tea laced with polonium in 2006 and ex-spy Sergei Skripal survived an assassination attempt with a weapons-grade nerve agent, Novichok, in England’s Salisbury in 2018. U.K. officials linked both attacks to the Russian state.
Navalny ally Leonid Volkov wrote on Twitter that “the best known cholinesterase inhibitor in the world is called ‘Novichok,’” referring to the agent used in the Skripal attack.
Russian doctors said Navalny was not poisoned but suffered from a metabolic disorder. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the Charite statement Monday.
Navalny became Russia’s most prominent opposition figure during 2011-2012 protests against Putin’s return to the Kremlin for a third term following four years as prime minister. He was under close surveillance by Russian security services during his visit to the Siberian city just before he fell ill, Russia’s Moskovsky Komsomolets reported, citing security sources.
“Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the cholinesterase group,” Navalny ally Lyubov Sobol wrote on Twitter Monday. “That’s not something you can make easily. It clearly points to the security services.”
Germany earlier reiterated its demand that Russian authorities provide a full explanation for what happened to Navalny. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that this must be “down to the very last detail with full transparency.”
“The suspicion is that somebody severely poisoned Mr. Navalny, of which unfortunately there are one or two other examples in recent Russian history,” Seibert said at a regular news conference in Berlin. “That’s why the world is taking this suspicion very seriously.”
Additionally, Merkel has confronted Putin over the August 2019 murder of a political opponent in Berlin, a killing that German officials blame on the Russian government.
A German government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Charite statement.
John Sullivan, U.S. Ambassador to Russia, said Monday that the case would likely come up in talks this week in Moscow between Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and Russian officials.
“We’re very concerned by the reports that Navalny may have been poisoned, and we’re closely watching those developments,” Sullivan told reporters on a conference call. “If Navalny has been poisoned, that would represent a very significant development for the United States.”
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