Alexei Navalny, the prominent Russian anti-corruption activist and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, was reportedly “poisoned with a toxin” and rushed in an unconscious state to the hospital on Wednesday night, according to his press secretary.
“This morning Navalny was returning to Moscow from Tomsk. On the flight he started feeling ill. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. Alexei has been poisoned with a toxin. Right now we’re in an ambulance on the way to the hospital,” tweeted press secretary Kira Yarmish, who later said her boss was in the ICU.
“We assume that Alexei was poisoned with something mixed into his tea. That was the only thing he drank this morning. The doctors say that the toxin was absorbed more quickly because of the hot liquid. Right now Alexei is unconscious,” she added.