Doctors at a Russian state facility say they have found no traces of poison in jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was hospitalized at the weekend with suspicious symptoms.
Navalny’s personal physician said Monday his condition suggested “poisoning by some unknown chemical substance” after he was rushed to a hospital from jail, where he is being held over an unauthorized protest.
Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny at the Echo Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station in Moscow, Russia, December 27, 2017. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)
However Alexei Tokarev, head of the state Sklifosovsky Institute for Emergency Care, which has a toxicology lab, says the lab ran Navalny’s samples and “poisoning substances were not found,” according to Russian news agencies.
Navalny was sent back to his jail cell Monday despite the protests of his doctor, who said he could be at risk of coming into contact with a poison again there.
The jailed politician — one of Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics — said the official explanation of his symptoms as an “allergy” did not make sense as he had never suffered from any allergies.
Others in the Russian opposition voiced concern that it may have been an attempt on Navalny’s life, the latest such case of an opposition figure falling ill with unexplained symptoms.
— AFP
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
