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Recovering Alexei Navalny intends returning to Russia

Russian opposition politician ­Alexei Navalny is recovering and plans to return to Russia from Germany where he has been undergoing treatment.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with his family at Berlin’s Charite hospital on Tuesday. Picture: AFP
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with his family at Berlin’s Charite hospital on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

Russian opposition politician ­Alexei Navalny has regained consciousness, is breathing without a ventilator and plans to return to Russia from Germany where he has been undergoing treatment since being poisoned in Siberia last month.

In his first statement since falling ill, the Kremlin’s most vocal critic sounded upbeat and defiant.

“I still can barely do anything, but yesterday I was able to breathe the whole day by myself,” Mr Navalny wrote on Instagram, displaying his usual acerbic wit. “I liked it. It’s a great process underestimated by many. Really recommend it.”

His comments were accompanied by a photograph, showing Mr Navalny hunched and drawn on a Berlin hospital bed, surrounded by his wife and two children.

The hospital treating Mr ­Navalny said he had been able to leave his bed for short periods.

Mr Navalny’s recovery, and confirmation from his spokeswoman that he intends to return to Russia, bolster the possibility that he would remain a thorn in the Kremlin’s side, while providing a boost to his supporters who in recent years have been increasingly marginalised and subjected to harsh crackdowns by authorities.

He fell ill while campaigning for opposition candidates in the Siberian cities of Tomsk and ­Novosibirsk ahead of local and ­regional elections that took place last weekend. Those contestants managed to win their races, though the ruling United Russia party mostly swept the nearly ­nationwide polls.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) that everyone would be happy about Mr ­Navalny’s recovery and his intention to come home.

“Any Russian citizen is free to leave Russia and return to Russia,” Mr Peskov said. “If the citizen recovers, then of course, everyone would be glad.”

Mr Navalny’s supporters say they believe President Vladimir Putin or his operatives were ­involved in poisoning him at the airport in Tomsk, a claim the Kremlin has strongly rejected.

European officials have said the toxin used, a type of military- grade novichok agent, which was also used to poison former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain in 2018, strongly indicates that the poisoning was the work of Russian state actors.

On Tuesday the head of Russia’s top spy service said Russia had long ago destroyed its stocks of novichok and said there were no traces of poison in Mr Navalny’s body when he left the country.

The Wall Street Journal

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/recovering-alexei-navalny-intends-returning-to-russia/news-story/47143d6f564cc294644797d4fa0cbb22