Putin-critic Navalny makes first video appearance, says 'officials saw me as a threat'

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny recently made his first video appearance since he was discharged from a Berlin hospital in an interview to a prominent Russian YouTube blogger, vDud. In a more than two-hour video, Navalny said that his health had much improved and that doctors were surprised by the speed of his recovery. However, he added that his handshake significantly and he was undergoing physical therapy. 

The 44-year-old Putin-critic emerged from a coma in recent weeks after collapsing on a domestic flight in Russian Serbia in August. He was flown to Berlin for treatment and German doctors had said that he was poisoned with Novichok, which is a rare Russian nerve agent. In the interview with the YouTuber, Navalny said that he believed Russia’s intelligence service had poisoned him because authorities saw him as a threat ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections. 

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“They understood that there were big, big problems threatening them ahead of elections for the State Duma,” Navalny said. Further, he added that he did not know how a Novichok nerve agent had got into his system, however, he said that he could have touched something.

READ: Navalny Recounts Poisoning Experience; Says 'felt No Pain, Could Sense This Was The End'

Kremlin dismisses allegations 

Meanwhile, Kremlin has dismissed the allegations and accused Navalny of working with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a foreign intelligence service of the US, soon after Navalny held Putin responsible for the suspected poisoning. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “specialists” of the CIA are working with Navalny as the Russian leader continues with his recovery process in Germany.

German health authorities had confirmed the poisoning of Navalny with a nerve agent from the Novichok group, citing toxicological test results. Later, specialist laboratories in France and Sweden also confirmed the poisoning with the Soviet-style nerve agent Novichok. Germany informed on September 18 that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is still investigating the cause independently.

READ: Kremlin Accuses Navalny Of Working With CIA; Putin's Critic To Sue Govt Spokesperson

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