Alexei Navalny Releases Photo From Hospital Bed After Nerve Agent Poisoning

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posted a photo on his Instagram account Tuesday from his hospital bed in Berlin, Germany.

Navalny Instagram/AP

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Navalny Instagram/AP

A woman holding a placard with an image of Alexei Navalny expresses support for the opposition leader in downtown Saint Petersburg last month.

Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images

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Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images

Last month, the opposition leader fell unconscious on a commercial flight from Siberia to Moscow. His severe symptoms forced the plane to make an emergency landing in the city of Omsk, where he was initially hospitalized. Two days later, he was airlifted to the Charité Hospital in the German capital, Berlin, where doctors put him in a medically induced coma and onto a ventilator.

A German military laboratory has determined that Navalny had Novichok in his system, which is a Soviet-era nerve agent.

Charité released a statement last week announcing that Mr. Nalvany had come out of the medically induced coma. On Monday, the hospital said in a statement that he has been weaned off of a mechanical ventilator and is able to leave his bed for short periods.

«I still can’t do practically anything. But yesterday I breathed on my own for the whole day. All by myself.»

Alexie Nalvany

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the poisoning, though it has used Novichok in other high-profile incidents.

French and Swedish laboratories have reportedly also confirmed that the substance used to poison Nalvany is Novichok.

It’s not clear when Navalny plans to return to Russia.

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