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.
Subscribe to 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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - April 24, 2025
Cartoons Thursday's cartoons - egg reserve, Sesame Strange, and more
By The Week US
-
The best crime fiction of 2025
The Week Recommends These page-turners will keep you on the edge of your seat
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK
-
Will divisions over trans issue derail Keir Starmer's government?
Today's Big Question Rebellion is brewing following the Supreme Court's ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex under equality law
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designation
The Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across Syria
THE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weapons
The Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
By Abby Wilson
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarray
In the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Romania's election chaos risks international fallout
IN THE SPOTLIGHT By barring far-right candidate Calin Georgescu from the country's upcoming electoral re-do, Romania places itself in the center of a broader struggle over European ultra-nationalism
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?
The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK
-
Why Serbian protesters set off smoke bombs in parliament
THE EXPLAINER Ongoing anti-corruption protests erupted into full view this week as Serbian protesters threw the country's legislature into chaos
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Munich Security Conference: will spectre of appeasement haunt old world order?
Today's Big Question Trump's talks with Putin threaten the international rules-based order, say critics
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK