Navalny spokeswoman confirms flight departure

A plane carrying a Russian dissident who is in a coma after a suspected poisoning left for a German hospital Saturday following much wrangling over Alexei Navalny’s condition and treatment.

The plane could be seen taking off from an airport in the Siberian city of Omsk just after 8 a.m. local time (0200GMT).

Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed the departure on Twitter.

"The struggle for Alexei's life and health is just beginning and there will be much more to go through, but at least now the first step has been taken", she added.

The flight to Berlin was expected to take about five hours.

Navalny, a 44-year-old politician and corruption investigator who is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, was admitted to an intensive care unit in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday.

His supporters believe that tea he drank was laced with poison - and that the Kremlin is behind both his illness and the delay in transferring him to a top German hospital.

Doctors in Omsk denied that and put forth the theory that a drop in blood sugar may have caused Navalny to lose consciousness.

Western toxicology experts expressed doubts that a poisoning could have been ruled out so quickly.