Alexey Navalny, who is currently hospitalized in the Siberian city of Omsk after showing signs of severe poisoning, didn’t have any toxic substances in his bloodstream, a source familiar with the results of his medical examinations told Meduza.
Navalny’s biomaterials were sent to a laboratory in Moscow for further testing for toxins, the source said, without specifying the lab in question.
Citing an unnamed doctor, Ria Novosti also reported that the results of Navalny’s blood work and urine analysis didn’t reveal any poisons.
Meduza’s source also confirmed that several potential diagnoses are under consideration, but so far doctors have been unable to narrow down an explanation for Navalny’s condition. According to the source, transporting Navalny out of Omsk is impossible due to fears that his condition might worsen during the flight due to pressure changes.
On the morning of August 21, Navalny’s aides said a police officer at the hospital had claimed that a dangerous agent was discovered in Navalny’s body that threatens both his life and the lives of everyone around him. The name of the toxin has not been disclosed. Officially, local law enforcement denies these reports and maintains that Navalny’s test results are still being processed. At the same time, a source told the Russian state news agency TASS that no traces of poison were found in Navalny’s body, and that law enforcement agencies still believe that this is a case of “psychodysleptic poisoning” (in other words, an overdose from a hallucinogenic drug).
Earlier in the day, Alexey Navalny’s aides announced that doctors had prohibited his medical evacuation after declaring his condition unstable and “unevacuable.” His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has since sent an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin seeking permission to transport her husband to Germany for medical treatment.
Read more about Navalny’s sudden illness
- Alexey Navalny is in a coma and doctors aren’t sure why ‘Meduza’ reports from on the ground in Omsk, where Russia’s most prominent opposition politician is fighting for his life
- Reports are surfacing that Navalny was poisoned with hallucinogenic drugs. Is that even likely?
- Before he became violently ill Opposition politician Alexey Navalny has been hospitalized and possibly poisoned. Here’s why he went to Siberia, where he was apparently attacked.