On January 13, Ivan Kolotushkin, head of Tuberculosis Hospital no. 1 in Vladimir Colony no. 3, visited Alexey Navalny, who has reportedly fallen ill in the punishment cell of Penal Colony no. 6. This, according to Navalny lawyer Vadim Kobzev.
“He came, conducted an examination. Medication has still not been handed over. Feeling the same as yesterday,” Kobzev tweeted.
There was no explanation as to why the head of the tuberculosis hospital came to see Navalny.
On January 10, two Russian doctors, Alexander Polupan and Alexander Vanyukov, began gathering signature for a letter they had written in support of Navalny. In the letter, which is addressed to Vladimir Putin, they “demand that Alexey Navalny’s right to appropriate medical help be enforced, in accordance with articles of the Russian Federal Constitution, whose guarantor you are.”
However, that letter seems to have been diverted to the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN). This was revealed by writer Dmitry Bykov on the YouTube channel Populyarnaya Politika. Bykov says the information was given to him by one of the letter’s signatories, but their name is not given.
Your appeal to the president of the Russian Federation was received in the form of an electronic document and registered as number 27-176. Given that there is no information in your petition about the Federal Penitentiary Service considering the issues raised in your petition, whose jurisdiction a decision is, your appeal was sent to the Federal Penitentiary Service in order to ensure that you receive an answer on the substance of your questions.
Bykov said that the doctor from whom he received the answer to his letter “saved his life” and is now “trying to save Navalny’s life.”
Alexander Vanyukov, one of the doctors who signed the letter, also posted a copy of the reply from the Kremlin on his Facebook.
In April 2021, Navalny was transferred to the hospital in Penal Colony no. 3 in Vladimir when he was on hunger strike.
On New Year’s Eve, Alexey Navalny was transferred to a punishment cell for the tenth time during his incarceration – for 15 days. The prison administration explained it by the fact that he was washing his face at the wrong time. Vadim Kobzev said that the politician had “a fever and cough.”
On January 12, Vadim Kobzev reported that Navalny had been prescribed antibiotics and that his condition had stopped deteriorating.