Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny 'poisoned'

dwayneshintzy

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is unconscious in hospital with suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.
The anti-corruption campaigner fell ill during a flight and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter.
She said they suspect Mr Navalny was poisoned by something mixed in his tea. A hospital has confirmed his admission.
Mr Navalny, 44, is a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin.
In June he described a vote on constitutional reforms as a "coup" and a "violation of the constitution". The reforms allow Mr Putin to serve another two terms in office.

• Russia's vociferous Putin critic

What did the spokeswoman say?

Kira Yarmysh, the press secretary for the Anti-Corruption Foundation Mr Navalny founded in 2011, tweeted: "This morning Navalny was returning to Moscow from Tomsk.
"During the flight, he felt ill. The plane made an urgent landing in Omsk. Alexei has toxic poisoning. Right now we are going to hospital."
She added: "We suspect that Alexei was poisoned by something mixed into [his] tea. It was the only thing he drank since morning.
"Doctors are saying that the toxic agent absorbed faster through the hot liquid. Right now Alexei is unconscious."
Ms Yarmysh later tweeted that Mr Navalny was in intensive care, on a ventilator and still unconscious, and that the police had been called.
The Tass news agency reported that the Omsk Emergency Hospital had confirmed his admission and that he was in a serious condition.
Images on social media showed Mr Navalny being taken on a stretcher to an ambulance on the airport runway.
Who is Alexei Navalny?

He made a name for himself by exposing official corruption, labelling Mr Putin's United Russia as "the party of crooks and thieves", and has served several jail terms.

In 2011 he was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days following protests over vote-rigging by Mr Putin's United Russia party in parliamentary elections.
Mr Navalny was briefly jailed in July 2013 on embezzlement charges but denounced the sentence as political.
He attempted to stand in the 2018 presidential race but was barred because of previous fraud convictions in a case he again said was politically motivated.
Mr Navalny was also given a 30-day jail term in July 2019 after calling for unauthorised protests.
He was taken ill during that jail sentence. Doctors diagnosed him with "contact dermatitis" but he said he had never had any acute allergic reactions and his own doctor suggested he might have been exposed to "some toxic agent". Mr Navalny also said he thought he may have been poisoned.
Mr Navalny also suffered a serious chemical burn to his right eye in 2017 after he was assaulted with antiseptic dye.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958


Hopefully things go better for Navalny than they did Litvinenko...

Hodors Appletart

He was poisnoned before

suicide_circus

Bad pint

Gatling

There certainly making he suffers Putin is a headcase

TheValeyard

Putin really is farely fond of the auld poisoning isnt he?

CrabRevolution

Falling out of your balcony after being poisoned sounds like the most Russian death imaginable.

Edgware

CrabRevolution wrote: »

Falling out of your balcony after being poisoned sounds like the most Russian death imaginable.

They like using the ice pick as well.

Pkiernan

Did Putin have to ask Gerry first?

Edgware

Pkiernan wrote: »

Did Putin have to ask Gerry first?

More likely the Group B lads

Polar101

Just some updates on this.. mr. Navalny was allowed to be evacuated to Germany from Siberia on Saturday, and now the Germans are saying there are traces of poison in his system (but it's not confirmed yet).

In Omsk, the head doctor of the hospital where he was being treated had said there was no poison, but he had a "metabolic disease" caused by low blood sugar. And he had traces of "normal industrial chemicals" in his hands.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/24/alexei-navalny-was-probably-poisoned-says-germany

Loafing Oaf

Polar101 wrote: »

In Omsk, the head doctor of the hospital where he was being treated had said there was no poison, but he had a "metabolic disease" caused by low blood sugar. And he had traces of "normal industrial chemicals" in his hands.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/24/alexei-navalny-was-probably-poisoned-says-germany

Sounds like that doctor is more concerned about his own health...

Polar101

So.. not surprisingly, the Germans are now saying Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, and Kremlin are saying "do you have any evidence?"

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54002880

Might be a good idea to skip the in-flight catering if you're on Putin's naughty list.

whisky_galore

Hope he has his affairs in order. Poor fecker, I'd say his days are numbered back in Russia.

Gatling

He's brave I give him that ,

But unless tens of thousands more russians stand up and demand proper change or Putin supposed Parkinson's weakens his power ,it's the same old story in Moscow

riffmongous

Incredibly brave man.

Kivaro

Gatling wrote: »

He's brave I give him that ,

But unless tens of thousands more russians stand up and demand proper change or Putin supposed Parkinson's weakens his power ,it's the same old story in Moscow

It is appalling what's happening to Alexei Navalny. Imagine being poisoned by the State and then arrested immediately on obviously false charges upon returning back home to that State. He is a brave man; a man worthy to lead that country.

daheff

riffmongous wrote: »

Incredibly brave man.

Dunno if hes brave, foolish or stupid.

He should never have returned. He might never be seen him alive in public again.

alchemist33

He's calling for mass demonstrations while he's due in court. Hopefully it happens and he survives.

But I have to say it's odd how Russia faces so little criticism in the west compared to e.g. China (against whom criticism is very valid), especially on social media

Gatling

A Moscow court ordered he be held on remand for 30 days while awaiting trial

riffmongous

daheff wrote: »

Dunno if hes brave, foolish or stupid.

He should never have returned. He might never be seen him alive in public again.

It's bravery I think, like those in Belarus or the people who put their lives on the line at the Majdan in Kiev a few years ago. They showed it can be done if there were more people like Navalny, the problem seems to be rousing the masses from their post-soviet apathy spontaneously enough that the OMON and FSB can't shut them down first.

Parabellum9

riffmongous wrote: »

Incredibly brave man.

Incredibly stupid I would say, there’s nothing “brave” about knowingly travelling to a country that clearly wants you dead. It won’t achieve anything.

Gatling

Parabellum9 wrote: »

Incredibly stupid I would say, there’s nothing “brave” about knowingly travelling to a country that clearly wants you dead.

And yet people all over the world stand up to scumbags like Putin and don't back down ,
He's showing Putin up in Russia and on the international stage two things he cannot abide ,
There is no victory for putin anywhere in this

Parabellum9

Gatling wrote: »

And yet people all over the world stand up to scumbags like Putin and don't back down ,
He's showing Putin up in Russia and on the international stage two things he cannot abide ,
There is no victory for putin anywhere in this

The end result will not mean anything to Putin, he’ll still be there and he’ll carry on regardless. There is nothing and nobody that will remove him from power apart from his last breath. Navalny on the other hand will either end up dying “accidentally” or disappear altogether.

Gatling

Parabellum9 wrote: »

The end result will not mean anything to Putin,

Russian leader went from low income KGB officer to leader and one of the richest men in the world ,owns no companies or created a life changing product or invention but yet here we are a big torn in his side he's tried to kill unsuccessfully several times and prevent him from running against him in elections ,
Putin has been left with egg on his face and made to look weak ,add what happened recently with Armenia and Azerbaijan he's looking like he's on ever increasingly shakey land

conorhal

alchemist33 wrote: »

He's calling for mass demonstrations while he's due in court. Hopefully it happens and he survives.

But I have to say it's odd how Russia faces so little criticism in the west compared to e.g. China (against whom criticism is very valid), especially on social media

He's a shady businessman undermining the states democracy by challenging the validity of its elections, surely we are supposed to cheer on his authoritarian treatment?

Gatling

Alexei Navalny wasn't even allowed to attend court ,he was was given a rushed hearing lasting all of 5 minutes inside of a moscow police station.

Overheal

Gatling wrote: »

Alexei Navalny wasn't even allowed to attend court ,he was was given a rushed hearing lasting all of 5 minutes inside of a moscow police station.

That sounds like a typical bond hearing. Still has your judge for your case present.

I’m not defending Putin but need more to go off than that.

MadYaker

Why did he go back to Russia does anyone know? Does he think that since they failed they can’t try again? I wouldn’t be so confident. He can serve his cause much better alive in a foreign country than dead in Russia.

Muahahaha

Parabellum9 wrote: »

The end result will not mean anything to Putin, he’ll still be there and he’ll carry on regardless. There is nothing and nobody that will remove him from power apart from his last breath. Navalny on the other hand will either end up dying “accidentally” or disappear altogether.

Yeah Putin will never be overthrown, he has complete control of the media, oligarchs are afraid to challenge him and even if there was an uprising similar to Belarus Putin has a network of militias and heavily armed biker gangs who would crush it in no time at all. Its a sad state of affairs but Russia has never known democracy and apathy among the general public is at huge levels. The conditions needed to overthrow Putin are just simply not there and he has an iron fisted grip on power.

As for Navalny I suspect he will be put into the main prison population where he will be stabbed to death by other prisoners in the control of the FSB. Navalny put egg all over the FSBs face by tricking one of his assassins into admitting the plot to poison him on a phone call and that will not go unpunished. He has walked into almost certain death.

seamus

MadYaker wrote: »

Why did he go back to Russia does anyone know? Does he think that since they failed they can’t try again? I wouldn’t be so confident. He can serve his cause much better alive in a foreign country than dead in Russia.

I read a suggestion that he's at much higher risk outside of the country than inside it.

That is, it's much harder for Putin to deny an assassination attempt if it occurs on home soil, especially now that Navalny's name is better known.

Since much of Putin's reputation rides on the strongman image, it could also hurt his public image for the public think that Putin had his rival assassinated like a coward rather than face him.

As for whether he's brave or stupid, I'm going to assume that Navalny knows a little bit more about the nuances of Russian politics than we do, so I'll go with brave.

This is probably the only option open to him that has any chance of seeing Putin toppled.

Muahahaha

seamus wrote: »

I read a suggestion that he's at much higher risk outside of the country than inside it.

That is, it's much harder for Putin to deny an assassination attempt if it occurs on home soil, especially now that Navalny's name is better known.

Since much of Putin's reputation rides on the strongman image, it could also hurt his public image for the public think that Putin had his rival assassinated like a coward rather than face him.

As for whether he's brave or stupid, I'm going to assume that Navalny knows a little bit more about the nuances of Russian politics than we do, so I'll go with brave.

This is probably the only option open to him that has any chance of seeing Putin toppled.

Putin is linked with the murder of 21 journalists since he came to power in 2000 so I doubt he cares what the public thinks about his rivals being assassinated. Poisoning people is as cowardly as it gets but he had that done to Navalny on Russian soil anyway as well as the two in the UK.