Published 11:55 IST, August 21st 2020
Kremlin critic Navalny, day before 'poisoning', said his death won't help Putin
The day before Alexei Navalny fell unconscious due to suspected poisoning, the Kremlin critic reportedly said that his death won’t help President Putin.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny reportedly said that his death won’t help President Vladimir Putin, a day before the anti-corruption campaigner fell unconscious due to suspected poisoning. Navalny is currently in a coma and on ventilator support in the intensive care unit as an air ambulance from Germany has flown to Omsk to bring the Russian leader to Berlin for treatment.
"We suspect that Alexei was poisoned by something mixed into [his] tea. It was the only thing he drank since morning. Doctors are saying that the toxic agent absorbed faster through the hot liquid. Right now Alexei is unconscious,” she had tweeted, later confirming that he is in a coma in serious condition.
Navalny has been at the forefront of the anti-corruption struggle in Russia and has organised several demonstrations against Putin and his political allies. He used YouTube, Twitter, and personal blog to expose alleged corruption in Putin’s government and has published videos and documents on the corruption of Russian state officials.
Past attacks on Putin's critics
The anti-corruption campaigner has been jailed several times over various charges including embezzlement and calling for unauthorised protests, which the Russian leader has denounced as politically motivated. He has strongly criticised the sweeping constitutional reforms introduced by Putin, giving himself an option to stay in power beyond term limits.
According to media reports, the supporters of the 44-year-old politician in Siberian jokingly asked how their leader is still alive, to which Navalny said that his death wouldn’t help Putin. If medical reports confirm poisoning as that cause of his critical health condition, the previous attacks on Putin’s high-profile critics would be once again thrown into the spotlight.
In 2006, investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a strong critic of human rights abuses in Chechnya, was killed in Moscow and another critic Alexander Litvinenko died in London after being poisoned with a radioactive substance. An inquiry by UK authorities later found out that Litvinenko was killed by Russian spies.
Updated 11:55 IST, August 21st 2020