World
Alexei Navalny: Opposition leader posted photo from hospital after poisoning as aide says he plans to return to Russia
Navalny was captured next to his family in a photo posted on his Instagram account Tuesday.
In his first direct message after hospitalization, an anti-corruption activist said he was now breathing on his own, without medical attention.
“Hello, this is Navalny,” he wrote in his signature. “I miss you. I still can’t do much, but yesterday I could breathe on my own all day. Just me. I didn’t use any outside help, not even the simplest valve in my throat. “
The German government said Navalny was poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Soviet-era Novichok group, and questions remain about the Russian state’s involvement in the incident.
Despite this, the Kremlin critic intends to return home after recovering, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told CNN in a CNN text message on Monday.
“No other option has ever been considered,” Yarmysh said.
For the first time, Navalny fell ill on August 20 during a flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk. He was hospitalized in Omsk after a forced landing.
He was then taken to Berlin’s Charité hospital two days later as part of a medical evacuation and remained in Germany for several weeks before being excommunicated from mechanical ventilation.
On Monday, the hospital said that Navalny could get out of bed for a while.
International concern remains
The attack on the Kremlin critic drew widespread international condemnation.
The German government discovered that he had been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok after testing, a conclusion supported by two other laboratories in France and Sweden.
The novice was also used in March 2018 in an attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury, and several Russian dissidents have been poisoned in the past.
Berlin called on Moscow to explain how Navalny was poisoned, but the Kremlin has remained adamant in the face of criticism.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called accusations of Kremlin involvement in the attack “unfounded” and “inappropriate” on Monday during a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“[The two sides] discussed the situation around the “Navalny case” in detail, the Kremlin said on Monday’s call.
“Vladimir Putin emphasized the inappropriateness of unfounded accusations against the Russian side in this context.”
The French report said that Macron had stressed to Putin “in order to shed light on the circumstances and responsibility of this assassination without delay.”
Proud web evangelist. Travel ninja. Creator. Freelance food nerd. Passionate bacon fanatic.