\n\n“Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s most outspoken critic is lying in a coma in a Siberian hospital from a suspected poisoning \u2014 and his family and supporters allege Putin and his government are behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have good reason to suspect that. The Kremlin has a long, sordid history of poisoning<\/a> political dissidents, defectors, and other enemies of the state. Indeed, this is actually the second <\/em>time Navalny \u2014 the leader of Russia\u2019s splintered opposition \u2014 is suspected of having been poisoned in just a little over a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, Navalny<\/a> drank some tea<\/a> at a Siberian airport before boarding a flight to Moscow. He became ill on the aircraft, with a video<\/a> purportedly showing the politician moaning and needing immediate medical attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, near Kazakhstan, where an ambulance<\/a> waited to take him to a local hospital. But Navalny\u2019s condition worsened, and he fell into a coma<\/a> before he arrived at the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1, where Navalny is currently being treated, has since become the site of a frustrating standoff between Navalny\u2019s family and supporters and the doctors overseeing his care. Navalny\u2019s wife and supporters allege the doctors are controlled by the Kremlin and trying to cover up the poisoning attack instead of properly treating their patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The physicians say Navalny wasn\u2019t poisoned but instead suffers from a \u201cmetabolic disorder<\/a>\u201d that leads to low blood sugar<\/a>. \u201cPoisons or traces of their presence in the body have not been identified,\u201d Anatoly Kalinichenko<\/a>, the deputy chief doctor at the Omsk emergency hospital, told reporters on Friday. \u201cThe diagnosis of \u2018poisoning\u2019 remains somewhere in the back of our minds, but we do not believe that the patient suffered poisoning.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “A medical plane sent by the Berlin-based humanitarian group Cinema for Peace Foundation<\/a> arrived in Omsk on Friday to take the opposition leader to Germany for treatment. The Russian doctors initially blocked the transfer<\/a>, saying Navalny wasn\u2019t stable enough to travel, before finally allowing the German physicians to take a look at the patient\u2019s condition<\/a>.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Late on Friday, the Russian physicians granted the transfer request<\/a>, but the earliest he\u2019d be transported would be Saturday morning, his team said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hanging over all the drama, though, are two pressing questions: Was Navalny actually poisoned? And if so, did Putin have anything to do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As of right now, we don\u2019t have definitive answers to those questions \u2014 and we may never get them.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Plausible deniability is baked into the cake of his authoritarian system. Everyone who works in the government knows what Putin wants without him having to explicitly ask. That means Kremlin operatives have the green light to pursue some of those goals \u2014 like knocking off a political rival \u2014 while officially keeping Putin out the loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That, in a sense, is how he gets what he wants without having his fingerprints on the government\u2019s dirtiest actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So Putin could have ordered Navalny dead himself, but it\u2019s equally possible that someone who wanted to make Putin happy did it on their own initiative.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “things aren\u2019t looking too great for Putin right now. He\u2019s overseeing one of the world\u2019s worst coronavirus outbreaks<\/a>, facing protests that question his leadership<\/a>, and watching as his ally in Belarus faces nationwide calls to step down<\/a>. With all that instability, Putin may have wanted to target his main political rival to send a strong message.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n