Missing ex-hospital head who treated Navalny found alive

After being reported missing over the weekend, Omsk regional health minister Alexander Murakhovsky — the former head of the Siberian hospital where Alexey Navalny was treated after his August 2020 poisoning — was found alive.

As reported by RIA Novosti, Murakhovsky went missing while on a hunting trip on Friday, May 7. Police officials said that he got lost in the area around Pospelovo, a village located 270 kilometers (168 miles) from Omsk. According to spokespeople for the regional government, Murakhovsky was reported found after he approached a group of people near the village of Basly on Monday, May 10. 

Though he appeared to be in good health, Murakhovsky was taken to a district hospital for a medical examination. His wife told Dozhd that he “doesn’t understand” why his disappearance led to a large-scale search. 

Alexander Murakhovsky has led the Omsk regional Health Ministry since November 2020. Before that, he was the head doctor at the Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1, where opposition politician Alexey Navalny first underwent treatment after he fell violently ill on a flight in August 2020. Navalny was medevaced from Omsk to Berlin, where doctors at the Charité Clinic diagnosed him with chemical nerve agent poisoning. The doctors in Omsk have insisted that Navalny didn’t show any signs of poisoning. 

Two other doctors from the Omsk emergency hospital have died since Navalny’s treatment: deputy chief physician Sergey Maksimishin and the head of trauma and orthopedics, Rustam Agishev.