Navalny to be transferred to hospital after US warns Russia

The US has warned Moscow of ‘consequences’ if the hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Picture: AFP

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who is on hunger strike, will be transferred to a hospital for inmates, Russia’s prison servicesays after deeming his condition to be “satisfactory”.

Prison authorities said in a statement on Monday that doctors had “made a decision” to deliver Mr Navalny to a medical facility on the premises of his penal colony outside Moscow and that he had agreed to take vitamin supplements as part of medical treatment.

The move came after the US warned Moscow of “consequences” if Mr Navalny died in prison, as the opposition leader’s team called for mass protests across Russia to help save his life.

A day after Mr Navalny’s doctors expressed fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic could die “any minute”, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington had warned the Kremlin it would be “held accountable by the international community” if he died.

France, Germany and the EU joined a growing international chorus of protest at Mr Navalny’s plight, and EU foreign ministers were discussing the situation overnight.

Concerns over Mr Navalny’s health have mounted against the background of a spike in tensions between Moscow and the West over a litany of issues, including Russia’s troop build-up on Ukraine’s border and interference in US elections.

Mr Navalny’s team on Sunday called for protests across Russia on Wednesday evening, just hours after Mr Putin is set to deliver his state-of-the-nation address. “It’s time to act. We are talking not just about Navalny’s freedom but his life,” Mr Navalny’s right-hand man Leonid Volkov said on Facebook.

There was no reaction from the Kremlin, but the Russian ambassador in London, Andrei Kelin, said Mr Navalny “will not be allowed to die in prison”. “But I can say that Mr Navalny, he behaves like a hooligan,” Mr Kelin told the BBC.

Authorities have ramped up pressure on Mr Navalny’s supporters, detaining more than 10,000 protesters at demonstrations in January and February. On Friday, Russian prosecutors asked a court to label Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and the network of his regional offices “extremist” organisations, in a move that would outlaw them and could result in jail time for their members or even supporters.

Mr Navalny was arrested in January upon returning to Russia after recovering from a near-fatal poisoning with the Soviet-era nerve agent novichok he says was orchestrated by the Kremlin. The Kremlin denies the allegation. He is serving 2½ years on politically motivated embezzlement charges in a penal colony in the town of Pokrov about 100km east of Moscow.

He began a hunger strike on March 31 to demand proper medical treatment for back pain and numbness in his legs and hands. On Sunday, Mr Navalny’s doctors said his health had rapidly deteriorated and demanded prison officials grant them immediate access. A team of doctors made a new attempt on Sunday to see Mr Navalny but were not allowed in.

Mr Biden said on Sunday that Mr Navalny’s plight was “totally, totally unfair, totally inappropriate”. Mr Sullivan added on Monday that the Kremlin had been warned “that there will be consequences if Mr Navalny dies”.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called Mr Navalny’s detention “politically motivated” and said “Russian authorities are responsible for Mr Navalny’s safety and health”.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said: “We urgently demand that Alexei Navalny receive adequate medical treatment and access to doctors he trusts.”

His French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian added that the EU was watching Mr Navalny’s case and warned of possible further EU sanctions against Russia.

Last week Washington imposed new sanctions against Moscow over a massive cyber attack, election meddling and other activities.

Mr Sullivan was asked on CNN whether a potential Biden-Putin summit meeting might be shelved if Mr Navalny were to die in prison. He said he would not deal in hypotheticals as no summit had been scheduled.

“It’s something we are talking about. That summit would have to take place, of course, in the right circumstances from a way that could move the relationship forward. But I’m not going to get into hypotheticals.”

AFP