Putin-critic Navalny makes first video appearance, says 'officials saw me as a threat'

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny recently me his first video appearance since he was discharged from a Berlin hospital in an interview to a prominent Russian YouTube blogger, vDud. In a more than two-hour video, Navalny said that his health h much improved and that doctors were surprised by speed of his recovery. However, he ded that his handshake significantly and he was undergoing physical rapy. 

44-year-old Putin-critic emerged from a coma in recent weeks after collapsing on a domestic flight in Russian Serbia in August. He was flown to Berlin for treatment and German doctors h said that he was poisoned with vichok, which is a rare Russian nerve nt. In interview with YouTuber, Navalny said that he believed Russia’s intelligence service h poisoned him because authorities saw him as a threat ahe of next year’s parliamentary elections. 

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“y understood that re were big, big problems threatening m ahe of elections for State Duma,” Navalny said. Furr, he ded that he did t kw how a vichok nerve nt h got into his system, however, he said that he could have touched something.

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Kremlin dismisses allegations 

Meanwhile, Kremlin has dismissed allegations and accused Navalny of working with Central Intelligence ncy (CIA), a foreign intelligence service of US, soon after Navalny held Putin responsible for suspected poisoning. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “specialists” of CIA are working with Navalny as Russian leer continues with his recovery process in Germany.

German health authorities h confirmed poisoning of Navalny with a nerve nt from vichok group, citing toxicological test results. Later, specialist laboratories in France and Sweden also confirmed poisoning with Soviet-style nerve nt vichok. Germany informed on September 18 that Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is still investigating cause independently.

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