This archive report was first published on 22 August 2020.
On August 20, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny fell into a coma after drinking a suspected poisoned tea during a flight from Moscow.
Navalny, a vocal critic of President Putin, was rushed to a hospital in Omsk, Siberia, where doctors initially refused to transfer him to Germany for further treatment, citing his unstable condition.
However, after pressure from Navalny's family and relatives, the doctors eventually approved his transfer to Germany, where he was met by his wife Julia.
Navalny's medical evacuation flight, catered for by the German NGO Cinema for Peace, landed at Tegel airport in Berlin, where he will be treated at the Charite hospital.
Navalny's supporters have accused the authorities of trying to cover up the incident, while the doctors in Omsk have claimed that no poison was found in his blood and that his condition could have been caused by a 'metabolic disorder' due to low blood sugar.
Navalny has a history of run-ins with the Russian authorities, including a 2017 incident where he was splashed with an antiseptic green dye on his face in Moscow, and a 2019 sentence to 30 days in prison for calling for illegal protests.
