Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is "unconscious" in intensive care after a suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.
Mr Navalny, 44, an outspoken critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, was returning to Moscow by plane from Tomsk in Siberia when began to feel ill, his press secretary Kira Yarmish said on Twitter.
She said that he is believed to have been poisoned with a toxic substance in his tea.
She tweeted: “The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. Alexei has a toxic poisoning.
“We assume that Alexei was poisoned with something mixed into his tea. That was the only thing he drank this morning.
"The doctors say that the toxin was absorbed more quickly because of the hot liquid."
Ms Yarmysh later tweeted that Mr Navalny was in intensive care, on a ventilator and still unconscious, and that the police had been called.
She also told the Echo Moskvy radio station that Mr Navalny was sweating and asked her to talk to him so that he could “focus on a sound of a voice”. He then went to the bathroom and lost consciousness.
Mr Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption had been exposing government officials, including some at the highest level.
Last month, the politician had to close the foundation after a financially devastating lawsuit from Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with ties to the Kremlin.
Like many other opposition politicians in Russia, Mr Navalny has been frequently detained by law enforcement and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups.
In 2017, he was attacked by several men who threw antiseptic in his face, damaging one eye.
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 a network of campaign offices across Russia and has since been putting forward opposition candidates in regional elections, challenging members of Russia’s ruling party, United Russia.
In the interview with Echo Moskvy, Ms Yarmysh said she believed the suspected poisoning was connected to this year’s regional election campaign.
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Vyacheslav Gimadi, a lawyer with Mr Navalny’s foundation, said the team is requesting Russia’s Investigative Committee open a criminal probe.
“There is no doubt that Navalny was poisoned because of his political stance and activity,” the lawyer said in a tweet on Thursday.
Last year, Mr Navalny was rushed to a hospital from prison where he was serving a sentence following an administrative arrest, with what his team said was suspected poisoning.
Doctors then said he had a severe allergic attack and discharged him back to prison the following day.