Putin critic Navalny was poisoned, German hospital says

A Russian hospital claimed last week that a leading critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn't poisoned — but a hospital in Berlin says tests suggest that he was.

Charite Hospital in Berlin on Monday said that Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition leader and Putin critic who fell ill last week, is suffering from "intoxication by a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors," CNN reports. It did not identify the substance he was allegedly poisoned with.

Navalny was hospitalized last week after falling ill on a flight to Moscow from Siberia, and his press secretary said at the time that "we suspect that Alexei was poisoned by something mixed into [his] tea." A state-run hospital in Siberia, however, subsequently said that "we do not believe that the patient has suffered poisoning," claiming that he suffered from "a sudden drop in blood sugar" due to a "metabolic disorder," CBS News reports.

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The Russian doctors at that point were not permitting Navalny to be transferred to a hospital in Germany, saying he was too unstable, but he later did arrive in Berlin to be treated. Charite Hospital on Monday said that Navalny is still in a coma and that "his state of health is serious, but there is currently no acute danger to his life."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a statement on Monday said that after the hospital's findings, "those responsible must be identified and held accountable."