Russian President's Arch Critic Is Recovering Well After Being Hospitalised For Suspected Poisoning

Alexei Navalny, an arch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, displayed signs of speedy recovery from a medically induced coma and is responding well to speech, as announced by Berlin’s Charite hospital on Monday.

Navalny’s medical progress has enabled the hospital staff to wean him off mechanical ventilation. Speculations are rife that his health condition was the result of acute suspected poising. “It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning,” said Charite in a statement.

Navalny’s abrupt collapse due to a suspected poisoning on a Russian domestic flight last month stirred up controversy and was followed by his subsequent airlifting to Germany last month on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow.

Chancellor Angela Merkel averred her government is convinced that the 44-year-old critic was poisoned with Novichok -- a lethal group of nerve agents concocted by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Britain’s critics enthused a usage of the same substance in the past against a Russian double agent and his daughter in an attack in England in 2018. There has been no evidence to testify the allegations, as of yet.

The flight was compelled to make an emergency landing in Omsk in order for Navalny to be stretchered off to Berlin’s Charite hospital.

The incident has placed Germany’s coveted project, Nord Stream 2 with Russia, in a tough spot. Scores of German politicians have demanded a deeper probe into the incident, and an explanation for what led up to Navalny’s collapse and alleged poising.

Merkel’s spokesman on Monday, as per a recent report, maintained that ruling out imposing sanctions on the pipeline is unlikely, in response to the suspected poisoning.

Britain continues to stick to its stance that there could be more than what meets the eye in regard to Navalny’s condition. They further alleged that history in a way repeated itself: Novichok was used to poison former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the city of Salisbury two years ago. The two survived, though. Russia vehemently refuted these claims, and have denied any involvement in the attack.