Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's top opponent, was found dead this Friday in a Russian prison, in the last chapter of a life marked by political persecution and even an attempted poisoning.
One of the most extreme episodes in Navalny's life occurred on August 20, 2020 when
he had to be hospitalized
after decompensating on a flight between Siberia and Moscow.
Navalny had to be flown on a medical plane to Germany, where
he was in an induced coma for more than two weeks
while he was treated with an antidote.
Members of his team from the outset accused the Kremlin of being involved in a poisoning, charges that Russian officials have vehemently rejected.
A German military laboratory determined that the Russian opponent was
poisoned with Novichok
, the same type of Soviet-era substance that, according to Britain, was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018.
The German government said independent analyzes by laboratories in France and Sweden supported its conclusions.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, also took steps to analyze samples from Navalny in its designated laboratories.
The remains of the poison were found in a bottle of water, in a hotel where the opponent had stayed.
Navalny was found dead in a Russian prison.
AP Photo.
The Kremlin maintained that the Russian doctors who treated him in the Siberian city of Omsk, where he was transferred after an emergency landing of his plane,
found no evidence that Navalny had been poisoned.
Vladimir Putin's government has repeatedly pressured Germany to share the opponent's tests and other medical data and to compare his notes with those of Russian doctors.
The German authorities responded to Moscow's request by pointing out that they must already have their own samples given that Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk for two days.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who canceled his planned trip to Berlin on Tuesday, said in an interview earlier this week that Russian authorities conducted a preliminary investigation and documented the meetings the opponent held before he fell ill. but he stressed that investigators must see evidence of poisoning to begin criminal proceedings.
The day of the poisoning
According to the testimonies of his assistants, as well as the other passengers, Navalny was seen smiling and without any problems during the time that passed before boarding the plane, that August 20, 2020. He even exchanged jokes and comments with people who recognized him and greeted him.
According to his Press Secretary, Kira Yarmysh, the man had not consumed anything that morning prior to his arrival at the airport.
It was during the first half hour of the flight that Navalny began to feel unwell.
The seriousness of the situation became apparent to other passengers when one of the flight attendants asked over the intercom if there was a doctor on board.
It was at that moment that the pilot was notified that there was a medical problem, and first aid was started on Navalny.
Less than two minutes after the plane had made an emergency landing, airport medical staff boarded to evaluate the patient.
They quickly noticed the seriousness of the situation
, and asked for an ambulance to take him to a health center, where he had to be taken to intensive care.