Alexei Navalny poisoning: Berlin hospital confirms 'substance found' after tests

Initial results indicate Mr Navalny was poisoned with a cholinesterase inhibitor or nerve agent. He is bring treated with atropine, a therapy designed to protect against damage by that type of poison. The outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin is under armed guard in hospital in German capital Berline after being airlifted out of Russia. He collapsed on a plane on Thursday last week after drinking tea that his allies said they believe was laced with poison. He was flown to Germany for treatment on Saturday.

A  spokesman for the Charite Hospital said: “The team of doctors examined the patient in detail after his arrival.

“The clinical findings indicate poisoning by a substance from the group of active substances called cholinesterase inhibitors.”

The spokesman said the specific substance was not yet known and warned the outcome remains uncertain with long-term effects, especially to the nervous system, impossible to rule out.

Cholinesterase inhibitors are drugs that can increase communication between nerve cells in the brain.

They are sometimes used to temporarily improve or stabilise the symptoms of people with dementia.

Common side effects of cholinesterase inhibitors include vomiting, muscle cramps, headache and hallucinations.

Certain chemical classes of pesticides work against bugs by interfering with, or “inhibiting” cholinesterase but they can also be poisonous, or toxic, to humans in some situations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said: “The suspicion is that Mr Navalny was poisoned given that unfortunately recent Russian history has had several such suspected cases.

“Because one can say with near certainty that it was a poisoning attack, protection is necessary.”

Moscow has made no immediate comment on the German statement.

The Kremlin said on Friday it was still unclear what caused Mr Navalny to fall ill and that initial tests did not show he was poisoned.

The incident could further strain Russia’s fraught relations with its European and NATO neighbours, who have accused it of mounting attacks on dissidents in Europe in the past – accusations that Russia has dismissed.

Doctors at the Siberian hospital that first treated Mr Navalny said today they had saved his life but that they had not found traces of poison in his system.

Dr Anatoly Kalinichenko said: “If we had found some kind of poison that was somehow confirmed then it would have been a lot easier for us.

“It would have been a clear diagnosis, a clear condition and a well-known course of treatment.”

The Russian doctors did not say what they had treated him for.

Last week they said they had diagnosed him with metabolic disease possibly brought on by low blood sugar.

The doctors said they had not come under pressure from authorities while treating Mr Navalny.

Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, saidsupporters had reported what they described as a suspected poisoning to the Russian police and Investigative Committee as soon as he fell ill.

The police and Investigative Committee were not immediately available for comment.

Mr Navalny has been a thorn in the Kremlin’s side for more than a decade, exposing what he says is high-level graft and mobilising crowds of young protesters.

He has been repeatedly detained for organising public meetings and rallies and sued over his investigations into corruption. He was barred from running in a presidential election in 2018.

source: express.co.uk