The spouse of stricken Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny appealed to President Vladimir Putin on Friday to allow the opposition politician to be flown to Germany for urgent medical care from a hospital in Siberia.
Navalny, a foe of Putin and his lieutenants and a campainger against corruption, is in serious condition after drinking tea on Thursday morning that his allies believe was laced with poison.
His condition improved a little overnight but his life was in danger and he wasn't well enough to be moved from the hospital, doctors treating him in Omsk, Siberia, said.
German doctors flew into the city in an air ambulance delivered by the Berlin-based Cinema for Peace Foundation, a non-profit organisation, with the intent of flying him to Germany if possible.
Alexander Murakhovsky, the head doctor at the hospital,'' said Navalny was diagnosed with a metabolic disease that may have been brought on by low blood sugar.
He explained traces of industrial chemical compounds were found on the 44-year-old's clothing and fingers hours and that physicians didn't believe Navalny had been poisoned.
Navalny's spouse Yulia and his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, who want to fly Navalny to Germany for medical treatment, have criticised the hospital after it stated that transferring him would put his life in danger because he was still in a coma and his condition shaky.
Yulia Navalnaya delivered a letter to the Kremlin directly appealing for it to intervene,'' Navalny's supporters stated.
"I officially appeal to you (Putin) to need you permit the transport of... Navalny to. . Germany," the letter printed on social media said.
Yarmysh said doctors had previously consented to his being moved, but had withheld their agreement at the last moment.
"The ban on hauling Navalny is an attempt on his life being carried out right now by physicians and the deceitful authorities who've resisted it," Yarmysh composed on Twitter.
"This decision, of course, was not created by them, but from the Kremlin," she said.
Discussing before the letter was delivered, the Kremlin said on Friday it was up to physicians to choose whether Navalny was still fit to be moved from the hospital and it had not received any formal request to help.
Murakhovsky told me that many legal questions would need to be solved before Navalny might be passed over to European physicians.
He explained top physicians were flown from Moscow to treat Navalny that had been not any worse than their European counterparts. Test results are available within two weeks, he explained.
Navalny fell ill while on a flight and he was stretchered off the plane and rushed to hosipital after it made an emergency landing in Omsk.
Navalny has been the biggest thorn in the Kremlin's side for more than a decade, exposing what he states is high-level graft and mobilising crowds of young protesters.
He has been detained for organising public events and meetings and sued over his investigations into corruption. He was barred from running at a presidential election in 2018.
TRACES
Navalny's team mentioned a police officer as stating a highly dangerous substance was identified in his own body that posed a threat to everybody around him and that they ought to use protective suits. Reuters couldn't independently confirm that advice.
Navalny's team stated it considered police wished to stall for a while so that any hint of what poisoned him would disappear.
Navalny, a foe of Putin and his lieutenants and a campainger against corruption, is in serious condition after drinking tea on Thursday morning that his allies believe was laced with poison.
His condition improved a little overnight but his life was in danger and he wasn't well enough to be moved from the hospital, doctors treating him in Omsk, Siberia, said.
German doctors flew into the city in an air ambulance delivered by the Berlin-based Cinema for Peace Foundation, a non-profit organisation, with the intent of flying him to Germany if possible.
Alexander Murakhovsky, the head doctor at the hospital,'' said Navalny was diagnosed with a metabolic disease that may have been brought on by low blood sugar.
He explained traces of industrial chemical compounds were found on the 44-year-old's clothing and fingers hours and that physicians didn't believe Navalny had been poisoned.
Navalny's spouse Yulia and his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, who want to fly Navalny to Germany for medical treatment, have criticised the hospital after it stated that transferring him would put his life in danger because he was still in a coma and his condition shaky.
Yulia Navalnaya delivered a letter to the Kremlin directly appealing for it to intervene,'' Navalny's supporters stated.
"I officially appeal to you (Putin) to need you permit the transport of... Navalny to. . Germany," the letter printed on social media said.
Yarmysh said doctors had previously consented to his being moved, but had withheld their agreement at the last moment.
"The ban on hauling Navalny is an attempt on his life being carried out right now by physicians and the deceitful authorities who've resisted it," Yarmysh composed on Twitter.
"This decision, of course, was not created by them, but from the Kremlin," she said.
Discussing before the letter was delivered, the Kremlin said on Friday it was up to physicians to choose whether Navalny was still fit to be moved from the hospital and it had not received any formal request to help.
Murakhovsky told me that many legal questions would need to be solved before Navalny might be passed over to European physicians.
He explained top physicians were flown from Moscow to treat Navalny that had been not any worse than their European counterparts. Test results are available within two weeks, he explained.
Navalny fell ill while on a flight and he was stretchered off the plane and rushed to hosipital after it made an emergency landing in Omsk.
Navalny has been the biggest thorn in the Kremlin's side for more than a decade, exposing what he states is high-level graft and mobilising crowds of young protesters.
He has been detained for organising public events and meetings and sued over his investigations into corruption. He was barred from running at a presidential election in 2018.
TRACES
Navalny's team mentioned a police officer as stating a highly dangerous substance was identified in his own body that posed a threat to everybody around him and that they ought to use protective suits. Reuters couldn't independently confirm that advice.
Navalny's team stated it considered police wished to stall for a while so that any hint of what poisoned him would disappear.