The Kremlin may allow Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny to be treated abroad, despite borders being closed due to Covid-19. Speaking to reporters, spokesman Dmitry Peskov made it clear that the authorities would consider any appeal go abroad "very quickly," clarifying that, even with flight restrictions, many Russian citizens have been allowed to go to other countries for medical reasons.

Dr Yaroslav Ashikhmin, Navalny's personal physician, told Western-funded Russian-language news outlet Meduza that he hopes to take the anti-corruption campaigner to the European Union for treatment, with Hanover or Strasbourg being the two most likely destinations.

When asked if the Kremlin was aware of Navalny's current situation, Peskov replied that he is aware the activist "is in a serious condition" and that "doctors are doing everything necessary."

Shortly after Peskov's statement, Navalny's former eye doctor Anastasia Vasilyeva announced that the campaigner's team were attempting to collect medical documentation for his transfer to the EU, but the hospital's chief physician had refused to provide it. On Twitter, she officially asked the Kremlin for ITS assistance. Vasilyeva is the head of the 'Doctors Alliance,' an activist group closely linked to Navalny.

A team of doctors are "engaged in saving the life" of anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny, a lead medic has said. He remains in a "stable but serious" condition, although no exact diagnosis has been made so far.

Dr Anatoly Kalinichenko, the deputy head of the emergency hospital in Omsk, said Navalny's "life is in danger." He earlier remarked that "there is no certainty that the cause of Navalny's condition is poisoning."

"The patient's condition is stable, and intensive therapy is continuing. We have made progress in the diagnosis of the ailment," Dr Kalinichenko told reporters. "The doctors are doing everything possible; the doctors are really engaged in saving his life."

Navalny's own medic, Dr Yaroslav Ashikhmin, agreed with Dr Kalinichenko that it was too early to draw conclusions about possible poisoning but he said that Navalny had no diseases that could cause this sort of condition and that, before Thursday's incident, he was completely healthy.

Meanwhile, news agency TASS, quoting a source, said the notion that Navalny may have been deliberately poisoned is not the main focus of the police investigation at present. "This theory is not being considered now. It is not ruled out that he drank or took something yesterday himself." When Navalny was admitted to hospital, he was diagnosed with "acute poisoning with psychedelics," he noted.

The Baza Telegram channel reported that police have interviewed an employee of the Viennese Coffee House cafe, who'd served tea to the activist before his flight.

"There were four people on the shift: the shift manager, a cook, the barista and the cleaning lady. In the past, there were no complaints about poisoning in the cafe. The shift manager also said that she did not remember who'd served tea to Navalny, but it could be either herself or the barista. According to her, she had never heard of Alexey Navalny before and found out more about him only after the latest turn of events."

Meanwhile, police are looking at the CCTV cameras.

"So far, we have held several telemedical consultations with our country's leading experts, who are able to provide consultations regarding this patient," Dr Kalinichenko told reporters on Thursday evening. "All of them think that all treatment and diagnostical efforts have been conducted correctly and to a full extent. The fact that we have managed to stabilize him, to get the current clinical picture, gives cause for cautious optimism regarding his state." The experts ruled out a heart attack, a stroke, coronavirus and cerebral edema.

"First, we need to wait for the final test results that will help doctors determine what happened, what caused this situation, what caused [Navalny] to lose consciousness," Peskov explained. "After that, if a poisoning took place, if there are corresponding statements or, if the law enforcement makes other decisions, there will be an investigation."

When asked whether Putin had been informed of the incident, Peskov noted that "the general situation described in the media... is accessible to absolutely everyone, it is accessible to the Russian leader as well, through media reviews that he receives on a regular basis." Peskov noted that the situation is transparent, as "doctors regularly inform people of what they are doing, of the condition the patient is in."

When asked whether the Kremlin considers the situation with Navalny's possible poisoning a special case due to the critical attitude of the opposition politician to the current government, Peskov said that "the current government has many critics." He added that "of course, if the life of a Russian citizen is under threat, the situation is serious. Both doctors and law enforcement treat all citizens equally seriously."

The press service of the regional health ministry department said that Navalny is currently in a natural coma, according to news agency TASS. "Currently, the patient is in a natural coma, he is still on an artificial lung ventilation machine."

The transfer was requested by Navalny's fellow opposition figure, Pyotr Verzilov, best known as the co-founder of the punk band Pussy Riot.

"For humanitarian reasons, at Pussy Riots Pyotr Verzilov's request, we will send at midnight an air ambulance with medical equipment and specialists with which Navalny can be brought to Germany," the foundation said, adding that Berlin's Charite hospital was ready to take him in.

It was not immediately clear whether this transfer will be actually allowed by Russian health authorities, given the seriousness of Navalny's condition.

Alexey Navalny may have experienced a rapid drop in blood sugar levels during a flight on Thursday, leading to him losing consciousness.
"Today, we have worked out diagnoses. The main one, which we are inclined to favor, is a disorder in the carbohydrate balance, that is, a metabolic disorder. This could be caused by a sharp drop in blood sugar, which can lead to a loss of consciousness."

The director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Ivan Zhdanov, questioned how a "metabolic imbalance" and a "blood sugar problem" could prevent the activist from being transferred to Germany. Dr Alexander Murakhovsky added that doctors have refused to allow the activist to be evacuated by plane to Germany because "this [metabolic] instability can increase during takeoff and landing."

Murakhovsky also commented on reports of a dangerous substance found on Navalny's body. He said it turned out to be material from a plastic cup or plate, dubbing it "ordinary industrial chemistry."

On Friday morning, Zhdanov said that police had mentioned the presence of a "deadly substance."
Navalny remains in a coma and is attached to a ventilator.

"We also invited German specialists, who arrived to Omsk on an intensive-care plane, so that they could check the patient's condition and the results of our own tests," Dr Alexander Murakhovsky told reporters.

Kremlin confirmed that President Vladimir Putin is not scheduled to discuss Navalny's condition with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "No, he is not planning this," his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Alexey Navalny, who remains in an artificially induced coma at a Siberian hospital, can be transferred to Germany within hours, his doctors have said, agreeing to family requests for treatment abroad. Given the seriousness of Navalny's condition, he must be transferred to the airport with extreme care.

"We don't mind his being transferred to another medical facility - one that relatives have chosen, and, of course, one that agrees to take the patient," one of the team said. "However, we don't think that [Navalny] actually needs the transfer. He can receive the required treatment and all the necessary care at this facility." So far, no evidence of any toxic substance has emerged.

A senior official at the Omsk hospital, Anatoly Kalinichenko, told the media that Navalny could be transported, as his condition has stabilized. German doctors were earlier in the day allowed to examine Navalny.

Navalny's wife had earlier appealed to President Vladimir Putin to allow her husband's evacuation to Germany for urgent medical care. "I officially appeal to you [Putin] to demand you allow the transportation of...Navalny to...Germany," Yulia Navalnaya said in a letter published on social media on August 21. The Kremlin said that the initial decision to refuse the transfer to Germany of Navalny was based only on medical grounds.

Navalny's supporters denounced the medical verdict as a ploy to stall until any poison would no longer be found in his body. Yarmysh, Navalny's spokeswoman, had called the hospital's decision "an attempt on his life being carried out right now by doctors and the deceitful authorities that have authorized it."

Yarmysh quoted Navalny's associate, Ivan Zhdanov, as saying that "a police officer at the hospital had just said that a poison was found in Aleksei's body, which was dangerous not only for him, but also for those around him."

The European Union has asked for a swift investigation into what caused Navalny to fall into a coma.

White House national-security adviser Robert O'Brien said on August 20 that the suspected poisoning was "extraordinarily concerning" and could have an impact on U.S.-Russia relations. O'Brien said in an interview on Fox News:

"He's a very courageous man. He is a very courageous politician to have stood up to [Russian President] Putin inside Russia, and our thoughts and our prayers are with him and his family. It's extraordinarily concerning and if the Russians were behind this...it's something that we're going to factor into how we deal with the Russians going forward."

The head of the legal department of the Anti-Corruption Foundation Navalny founded, Vyacheslav Gimadi, wrote on Twitter, "There is no doubt that Navalny was poisoned for his political position and activity."

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