Has Alexei Navalny fallen foul of a ‘Putin poisoning’?
Russian opposition leader in Siberian hospital after falling ill on plane

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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Judge rejects top state charges in Mangione case
Speed Read If convicted, Mangione faces up to life in state prison
-
UN panel finds Israeli genocide in Gaza
Speed Read The report found that Israeli leaders had committed ‘four of the five “genocidal acts”’ prohibited under the U.N. Genocide Convention
-
Trump allies reportedly poised to buy TikTok
Speed Read Under the deal, U.S. companies would own about 80% of the company
-
Russia slams Kyiv, hits government building
Speed 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 US
Speed 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 cities
Under the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
Kyiv marks independence as Russia downplays peace
Speed 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
-
Will Ukraine trade territory for peace?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Kyiv’s defences are wearing thin but a land swap is constitutionally impossible and crosses Zelenskyy's red lines
-
Russia tries Ukraine land grab before Trump summit
Speed Read The incursion may be part of Putin's efforts to boost his bargaining position