Alexei Navalny: Aides accuse Russian officials of cover-up as doctor says ‘no trace’ of poison in Putin critic’s blood

Opposition politician’s family and team accuse authorities of stalling for time, and say they were also told Navalny had ingested a deadly toxic substance that was a threat even to those around him

The mystery around the apparent poisoning of Alexei Navalny deepened on Friday, with aides at one point relaying claims that doctors had identified a substance lethal not only to the Putin critic but to those around him too.

Ivan Zhdanov, head of Mr Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, said a transport police officer had confirmed the presence of a toxin: “She said everyone around was working in protective costumes, but wouldn’t name the substance and claimed investigatory privilege.”

The opposition politician’s supporters said they were unconvinced by the claims. His wife, Yulia Navalnya, suggested that authorities were instead stalling for time to stop his planned evacuation to Germany, in order to allow whatever toxin might be in his body to disappear.

Anatoly Kalinichenko, a senior clinician at the Siberian hospital treating Mr Navalny, claimed that doctors were satisfied he had not been poisoned. They had found “no trace” of toxins or by-products of these toxins in blood or urine samples taken from the critic of Vladimir Putin, he said. Family members had already been informed of a “final diagnosis”.

A little while later, the hospital’s chief clinician, Andrei Mukharovsky, contradicted these comments by stating that doctors had only “working diagnoses”. The most likely of these, he claimed, was a “carbohydrate imbalance ... possibly caused by a sharp drop in blood sugar levels”.

Mr Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, fell seriously ill on Thursday morning 40 minutes into a flight from Tomsk, Siberia. His Moscow-bound plane made an emergency stop in Omsk, 800 km (500 miles) away. Already unconscious by the time the plane landed, Mr Navalny was rushed to intensive care, where he remains in a critical condition.

Both the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, have offered state-level assistance to expatriate Mr Navalny for specialist treatment in Europe. Mr Navalny’s team believe that offers the best chance for his recovery and of identifying whatever might have caused his condition.

An air ambulance is already in Siberia ready for a planned evacuation to Berlin.

Last night, Russian doctors said Mr Navalny could be flown to Germany to receive medical care.

Mr Navalny’s life was not in immediate danger, he was in an induced coma and his brain was in a stable condition, medical staff at the Omsk hospital said.

Kira Yarmysh, Mr Navalny’s spokesperson, said she expected him to be flown out on Saturday morning.

However, in comments to the press on Friday morning, Dr Murakhovsky had said that “no benefit” would be gained from speaking to foreign experts. Moscow specialists were “no worse”, he claimed. Test results, available in two days, would give “complete information”.