Breaking: Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, in a coma after poisoning

 

Alaxei Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is in a coma after suspected poisoning left him “screaming in pain” on a flight to Moscow.

The 44-year-old is unconscious and in intensive care in a hospital in the city of Omsk, according to his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh.

“He is in a coma in grave condition,” she said on Twitter, adding that he was placed on a ventilator.

A local health ministry official said Mr Navalny’s life was in danger, but that he was in a stable condition.

The pro-democracy campaigner was taken ill during a flight to Moscow from the city of Tomsk, his condition forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Omsk, so he could receive medical attention.

Ms Yarmysh tweeted: “Alexei has a toxic poisoning.

“We assume that Alexei was poisoned with something mixed into the tea. It was the only thing that he drank in the morning.

“Doctors are saying the toxin was absorbed quicker with hot liquid.”

A fierce critic of the Kremlin, Mr Navalny was jailed for 30 days last year for violating strict protest laws and calling for unauthorised demonstration in Moscow.

Mr Navalny attempted to run in the 2018 presidential race but was barred because of previous fraud convictions in a case he again said was politically motivated.