Russian opposition leader Navalny still comatose but stable after transfer to Berlin hospital

Alexei Navalny arrives at a Berlin hospital.

(Image credit: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

published 22 August 2020

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has made it to Berlin after all.

Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been comatose since falling ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow on Thursday. Medical staff at the Omsk, Russia, hospital where he was previously treated had initially refused to allow his transfer to the German capital, claiming he was too unstable to move, but they appeared to relent after international scrutiny, The Washington Post reports.

Upon arrival in Berlin, Navalny was taken to a hospital where he underwent a comprehensive medical examination. Doctors reportedly would not comment on his illness or treatment until those were completed, although his supporters believe he was poisoned at the behest of the Kremlin. The hospital in Omsk denied the claims, but toxicology experts have expressed doubts poison could have been ruled out so quickly, The Associated Press reports. Moscow has similarly been accused of delaying the Berlin transfer.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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