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Russian Opposition Leader Poisoned, Doctors Confirm. Germany’s Merkel Calls For ‘Justice’

   DailyWire.com
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - (ARCHIVE) : A file photo dated September 29, 2019 shows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a rally in support of political prisoners in Prospekt Sakharova Street in Moscow, Russia. Alexei Navalny is unconscious in hospital after allegedly being poisoned according to his press secretary. (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

German doctors concluded on Monday that Russian politician and opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned, contradicting claims by Russian specialists that cared for Navalny after he collapsed last week.

Navalny is a leading opposition figure with numerous enemies in the Kremlin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and some among the Russian elite. Navalny has uncovered and made numerous charges of corruption against Russia’s top politicians and businessmen citing business records and other documents and has released information through his YouTube channel, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Navalny began feeling ill on a flight to Moscow on Thursday after drinking tea all morning. The flight crew searched the cabin for a doctor before making an emergency landing at the Siberian city of Omsk where Navalny was treated for several days before being medevacked to Charité hospital in Berlin.

People close to Navalny have openly alleged that he was poisoned since he was first hospitalized. Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said that the Russian doctors in Omsk had initially not allowed Navalny to be transported to Berlin on Friday because they were stalling until the poison left his body. The doctors said they delayed releasing Navalny because he was not stable enough to travel.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for an investigation into the alleged attack on Navalny. “Those responsible must be identified and brought to justice,” they said in a joint statement, according to WSJ.

Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert gave additional comments during a Monday press conference.

“The suspicion is not that Mr. Navalny poisoned himself, but that someone poisoned Navalny, and there are unfortunately one or two other examples of such poisonings in recent Russian history,” Seibert said, according to a translation of his comments by the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. “It was clear that after his arrival security measures had to be put in place, because we are dealing with a patient who was likely the target of a poison attack.”

German doctors at the Charité hospital said that Navalny was poisoned with cholinesterase inhibitors, which are chemicals found in both nerve agents and pesticides. Cholinesterase inhibitors were also used to poison ex-Russian spy Sergey Skripal and his daughter in a failed assassination attempt in March 2018.

Navalny remains in a medically-induced coma and, “while his condition is serious, it is not currently life-threatening,” the hospital said in a statement. The hospital added that the total effects of the poison on Navalny’s health have not yet been determined.

“As a result of this diagnosis, the patient is now being treated with the antidote atropine. Alexei Navalny’s prognosis remains unclear; the possibility of long-term effects, particularly those affecting the nervous system, cannot be excluded,” the hospital said. “The treating physicians remain in constant contact with Mr. Navalny’s wife. After close consultation with the patient’s wife, Charité is reassured that the decision to make details of the patient’s condition public would be in accordance with his wishes.”

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