Alexei Navalny, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is unconscious in intensive care today after a suspected poisoning.
“We assume that Alexei was poisoned with something mixed into his tea,” said his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh. “It was the only thing that he drank in the morning. Doctors say the toxin was absorbed faster through the hot liquid.”
Navalny “started feeling unwell while on a return flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk”, CNN reports. The plane made an emergency landing in nearby Omsk, where he fell into a coma.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Who is Alexei Navalny?
Navalny, 44, is “the face of grassroots opposition to the Kremlin and no stranger to threats”, says the Financial Times. As “Putin’s most popular challenger”, he has organised street protests and political campaigns against the governing party.
“He made a name for himself by exposing official corruption,” says the BBC, “labelling Mr Putin’s United Russia as ‘the party of crooks and thieves’, and has served several jail terms.”
He claims to have won more votes than his Putin-backed rival in Moscow’s 2013 mayoral elections, although the official results showed him a distant second.
In 2018, as leader of the Russia of the Future party, he was prevented from running against Putin for the presidency “because of previous fraud convictions in a case he said was politically motivated”, the BBC reports.
Has he really been poisoned?
While the cause is unclear, there is no doubt that Navalny is seriously ill.
“At the start of the flight he went to the toilet and didn’t come back,” according to one fellow passenger quoted by Reuters. “He started feeling really sick. They struggled to bring him round and he was screaming in pain.”
The BBC says a “disturbing video” posted on social media “appears to show a stricken Mr Navalny in pain on the flight”. In another clip, he is being taken by stretcher into an ambulance on arrival in Omsk.
“However,” says Reuters, “one of the doctors there said it was not certain that he had been poisoned.”
If foul play was confirmed, it would come as no surprise. “Other prominent Russian opposition activists have also been hospitalised after apparent poisonings in recent years,” says the Financial Times.
Two years ago, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury, allegedly by Russian military agents. And last year Navalny himself suffered an “acute allergic reaction” while in police custody.
-
8 of the best ‘cozy crime’ series of all timeThe Week Recommends Murder mysteries don’t necessarily have to make us miserable, and these shows have perfected a feel-good crime formula
-
Youth revolts rattle Morocco as calls against corruption grow louderTHE EXPLAINER Snowballing controversy over World Cup construction and civic services has become a serious threat to Morocco’s political stability
-
Israel intercepts 2nd Gaza aid flotilla in a weekSpeed Read The Israeli military intercepted a flotilla of nine boats with 145 activists aboard along with medical and food aid
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
Russia slams Kyiv, hits government buildingSpeed Read This was Moscow's largest aerial assault since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022
-
'Axis of upheaval': will China summit cement new world order?Today's Big Question Xi calls on anti-US alliance to cooperate in new China-led global system – but fault lines remain
-
China's Xi hosts Modi, Putin, Kim in challenge to USSpeed Read Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Asian leaders at an SCO summit
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
Kyiv marks independence as Russia downplays peaceSpeed Read President Vladimir Putin has no plans to meet with Zelenskyy for peace talks pushed by President Donald Trump
-
What will security guarantees for Ukraine look like?Today's Big Question From boots on the ground to economic sanctions, here are the measures that might stop Russia taking another bite out of Ukraine
