Navalny accuses Kremlin of orchestrating attack with brilliant green antiseptic. He may lose his sight.
Oppositionist leader Alexei Navalny has said that the after-effects of the chemical burn he endured in his eye following an attack on April 27 may be irreversible.
“This is now the third day that I am releasing drops into my eye every 15 minutes, the second day that I am getting injections, and we are struggling to keep the eye transparent,” wrote Navalny. According to him, there is a risk that the eye cannot be cured.
On April 27, an unidentified attacker threw a solution of brilliant green dye – a popular anti-septic in post-Soviet countries – into Navalny’s face. Previously, a similar attack had been orchestrated against the oppositionist leader in the town of Barnaul, but Navalny claims to have been able to “see normally” within 10 minutes of having the solution thrown at him. This time round, doctors suspect that the “brilliant green dye had been mixed with something else,” said Navalny in light of the severity of the burn.
Navalny said that he believes the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin to be behind the attack, since, in his opinion, only special services would have been able to give attackers information about his whereabouts. “[It is these same perpetrators who] guarantee immunity, ‘non-working video cameras,’ and police unwillingness to investigate,” he wrote.
No criminal case has yet been initiated on his application, said the oppositionist.
Alexei Navalny was attacked on April 27 at the Omega Plaza business center in Moscow. The attacker, who was filmed by CCTV cameras, splashed brilliant green dye in Navalny’s face. At the hospital, the politician was diagnosed with a “chemical burn of the eye.” Due to his injury, Navalny missed the opening of his campaign headquarters in Astrakhan.
