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Tests Suggest Aleksei Navalny Was Poisoned, German Doctors Say Aleksei Navalny Was Probably Poisoned, German Doctors Say
(32 minutes later)
BERLIN — Doctors treating Aleksei A. Navalny, the prominent Russian dissident who fell ill while on a flight to Moscow last week, say tests indicate he was poisoned, but his life is not in danger, the Berlin hospital where he was admitted said in a statement on Monday. BERLIN — Aleksei A. Navalny, the prominent Russian dissident who fell ill while on a flight to Moscow last week, was in all likelihood poisoned, German doctors said on Monday, though they have yet to identify the specific agent.
Doctors at the Charité hospital in Berlin, where Mr. Navalny was taken on Saturday after his family and supporters pushed strongly for him to be treated abroad, said that their findings indicated intoxication by a substance from a group known as cholinesterase inhibitors. In a statement, doctors at the Charité hospital in Berlin, where Mr. Navalny was taken on Saturday, said they expected him to survive the attack, but that it was too early to gauge the long-term effects, including possible damage to the nervous system. He remained in a medically induced coma, in stable condition.
“The specific substance has not been identified so far, and a further wide-ranging analysis has been initiated,” the doctors said, adding that the effect of the toxin “has been proven several times and in independent laboratories,” the statement said. While not able to pinpoint the exact poison, the doctors said tests showed it came from a group known as cholinesterase inhibitors, sometimes used to treat Alzheimer’s Disease.
Mr. Navalny, who challenged President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in the 2018 election, has been attacked at least twice before, including one assault that left him mostly blind in one eye. On Monday, he remained in an induced coma in stable condition. They said the antidote for that class of substances is atropine, which is also used against certain types of nerve gas. They did not say whether Mr. Navalny had been treated with atropine before his arrival in Germany.
The doctors said that although it was too early to tell what lasting effects Mr. Navalny would experience, “the possibility of long-term effects, particularly those affecting the nervous system, cannot be excluded.” Mr. Navalny, who challenged President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in the 2018 election, and has waged a long battle to publicize rampant official corruption, has been attacked at least twice before, including one assault that left him mostly blind in one eye.
He was taken to Berlin on Saturday, more than 48 hours after he fell ill and his flight to Moscow was forced to make an emergency landing in Omsk, Siberia. His family and supporters organized an air ambulance to bring him to Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel had offered him access to medical care. He fell ill while returning from a trip to Russia’s Far East, where he was organizing opposition candidates and strategy for upcoming regional and local elections. His plane was then forced to make an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk, where he was taken to a local hospital.
Ms. Merkel’s government enjoys strong economic and cultural ties to Russia but has not shied from criticizing policies of Mr. Putin, and even before Mr. Navalny arrived in Berlin, the German government appeared to be taking extra precautions to ensure his safety. His family and supporters organized an air ambulance to take him to Germany, but the Russian doctors delayed for nearly 48 hours, saying his medical condition was too unstable for him to be moved. That stance drew bitter criticism from the Navalny camp, which accused the doctors of employing stalling tactics to give the toxins enough time to drain from his system.
Mr. Navalny was flown to Germany at the invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Though Germany enjoys strong economic and cultural ties to Russia, it has not shied from criticizing policies of Mr. Putin, and even before Mr. Navalny arrived in Berlin, the German government appeared to be taking extra precautions to ensure his safety.
Minutes before landing, his plane was rerouted from Schönefeld Airport to Tegel Airport, and the ambulance that brought him from the tarmac to the Charité hospital was escorted by the police. A police van and several officers have been stationed outside the hospital’s main entrance since Saturday.Minutes before landing, his plane was rerouted from Schönefeld Airport to Tegel Airport, and the ambulance that brought him from the tarmac to the Charité hospital was escorted by the police. A police van and several officers have been stationed outside the hospital’s main entrance since Saturday.
“It was clear that after he arrived here, security measures had to be put in place,” Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters on Monday, before the hospital released its statement. “We are dealing with a patient who appears, with a certain level of probability, to have been the target of a poisoning attack.”“It was clear that after he arrived here, security measures had to be put in place,” Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters on Monday, before the hospital released its statement. “We are dealing with a patient who appears, with a certain level of probability, to have been the target of a poisoning attack.”
“Unfortunately there a one or more examples of such poisonings in recent Russian history,” Mr. Seibert added. “Unfortunately there are one or more examples of such poisonings in recent Russian history,” Mr. Seibert added.
The Russian security services are suspected of having used a range of poisons to eliminate opponents, although Russian officials have consistently denied any evidence of poisoning. On Monday, doctors in Omsk who treated Mr. Navalny last week again denied that they had found any evidence of toxins in his system. The Russian security services are suspected of having used a range of poisons in attempts to eliminate opponents, although Russian officials have consistently denied any evidence of poisoning. On Monday, doctors in Omsk who treated Mr. Navalny last week again denied that they had found any evidence of toxins in his system.
Before the doctors’ statement in Berlin, the Russian doctor who had directed Mr. Navalny’s treatment told journalists that he had initially considered poisoning as a cause for his sudden collapse into a coma but later ruled it out, based on laboratory results.
“The diagnosis of poisoning was one of the first,” the deputy head doctor of the hospital, Anatoly Kalinichenko, said. “That diagnosis was with us until the end of the first day, before we received answers from two laboratories, in Moscow and Tomsk, that chemical or toxic substances, which could be called poisons or the byproducts of poisons, were not identified. So we moved on from the diagnosis of poisoning.”
The hospital’s head doctor, Aleksandr Murakhovsky, had released a statement saying Mr. Navalny had likely suffered from a metabolic disorder brought on by low blood sugar, but that doctors were also considering other diagnoses. He ruled out poison.
On Monday, the doctors said they were treating Mr. Navalny for his symptoms and his loss of consciousness, without settling on a cause. It was unclear whether he had been treated with atropine, the antidote identified by German doctors, and if not what consequences the lack of treatment might mean for the opposition leader’s health.
On Monday, Dr. Murakhovsky, said he and several specialist doctors had revealed more details of Mr. Navalny’s illness to his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, than they had in their public comments, but on the condition that she not disclose what she was told.
This was done from “humanitarian motives,” he said. “We agreed that we would tell the relatives more than what I said at the press conference,” he said. “They promised they would not disclose this information.”
During Mr. Navalny’s stay in the Siberian hospital, men apparently with the security services but not in uniform milled about the hallways, and came and went from Dr. Murakhovsky’s office, videos and pictures showed.
Their presence alarmed Mr. Navalny’s wife, his personal physician and a spokeswoman, who said they worried the security services were dictating his care.
Asked about these plainclothes men in his office, Mr. Murakhovsky said he did not know who they were, but that they had not influenced his treatment decisions. “I had a lot of people in my office, but I cannot say what they were doing there,” he said. “They came and asked, ‘Is everything all right?’ and I said ‘Everything is all right.’ And they left. They were just interested.”
Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting from Moscow.