Navalny says ‘amazing’ to breathe unaided, eyes Russia return

MOSCOW AFP, 15 Sept, 2020 - Opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Tuesday he was able to breathe unaided in his first public comments after his suspected poisoning in Siberia, while his aide said he planned to return to Russia once recovered.   

The 44-year-old lawyer and outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin fell severely ill on August 20 on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow after a trip to support opposition candidates in local elections.   

Germany said there was “unequivocal evidence” that Russia’s most prominent opposition figure was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent but Moscow has angrily dismissed the findings, saying its doctors found no trace of poison.   

 “Hello, this is Navalny,” he wrote in a post on Instagram, appearing with his wife and two children in the Berlin hospital where he was flown for treatment after falling ill.   

“Yesterday I was able to breathe on my own all day,” he wrote. The anti-corruption campaigner’s suspected poisoning has sparked sharp condemnation from Western leaders who have called for a thorough investigation and those responsible to be brought to justice.