Russian doctors say no indication Putin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned

Russian doctors say they found no indication that opposition politician Alexei Navalny was poisoned.

Mr Navalny, 44, fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk on Thursday and was taken to hospital after the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk.

The opposition politician is in intensive care in the Siberian city. His allies suspect he has been poisoned.

But deputy chief doctor Anatoly Kalinichenko at Omsk hospital said on Friday that no traces of poison have been found in Mr Navalny's body.

"Poisoning as a diagnosis remains on the back burner, but we don't believe that the patient suffered from poisoning," Mr Kalinichenko told reporters on Friday.

Mr Kalinichenko added that the diagnosis has been relayed to Mr Navalny's family members.

He refused to reveal it to reporters, citing a law preventing medical workers from disclosing confidential patient information.

Doctors speak to reporters outside the hospital on Friday
AFP via Getty Images

Mr Navalny’s ally Ivan Zhdanov said on Friday that police found “a very dangerous substance” in Mr Navalny’s system, but officials refuse to disclose what it is.

Doctors also refused to authorise his transfer to a German hospital, Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter.

“The chief doctor said that Navalny is non-transportable. (His) condition is unstable. Family’s decision to transfer him is not enough,” Ms Yarmysh said in a tweet.

His team says a plane with all the necessary equipment is ready to take Mr Navalny to a German clinic.

Like many other opposition politicians in Russia, Mr Navalny has been frequently detained by law enforcement and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups.

Yulia Navalnaya, wife of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, speaks with the media
REUTERS

In 2017, he was attacked by several men who threw antiseptic in his face, damaging an eye.

Last year, Mr Navalny was taken to a hospital from prison, where he was serving a sentence following an administrative arrest, with what his team said was suspected poisoning.

Doctors said he had a severe allergic attack and discharged him back to prison the following day.

Mr Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption has been exposing graft among government officials, including some at the highest level.

A medical worker speaks to police officers outside the hospital 
REUTERS

Last month, he had to shut the foundation after a financially devastating lawsuit from Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close ties to the Kremlin.

The most prominent member of Russia’s opposition, Mr Navalny campaigned to challenge Mr Putin in the 2018 presidential election, but was barred from running.

He set up campaign offices across Russia and has been promoting opposition candidates in regional elections, challenging members of Russia’s ruling party, United Russia.

One of his associates in Khabarovsk, a city in Russia’s Far East that has been engulfed in mass protests against the arrest of the region’s governor, was detained last week after calling for a strike at a rally.

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