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Russia Clears Kremlin Critic Navalny to Be Airlifted to Germany in Coma

Reuters

   OMSK, RUSSIA - Russian doctors said Friday that gravely ill Kremlin
   critic Alexei Navalny could be flown to Germany to receive medical care
   after the opposition politician's allies accused the Russian
   authorities of trying to stop his evacuation.

   Navalny's life was not in immediate danger; he was in an induced coma
   and his brain was in a stable condition, the medical staff at a
   hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk said.

   Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's spokeswoman, said she expected him to be flown
   out on Saturday morning.

   Navalny, a longtime opponent of President Vladimir Putin and a
   campaigner against corruption, collapsed on a plane Thursday after
   drinking tea that his allies believe was laced with poison.

   German doctors flew in to evacuate Navalny, 44, at the request of his
   wife and allies who said they feared authorities might try to cover up
   clues as to how he fell ill and that the hospital treating him was
   badly equipped.

   Medical staff at the Omsk hospital initially said Friday that while
   Navalny's condition had improved slightly overnight, he was in too
   unstable a state to be safely transported out of the country.

   But late on Friday they said they would not object to his being moved
   after the German doctors were granted access to Navalny and said they
   thought he was fit to travel.

   A senior doctor at the hospital, Anatoly Kalinichenko, said the
   hospital could help transport Navalny to the airport and that he would
   be moved within several hours.

   "We have taken the decision that we do not object to him being
   transferred to a different hospital," Kalinichenko said.

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