MOSCOW (AP) – A doctor for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in the third week of a hunger strike, says his health is deteriorating rapidly and the 44-year-old Kremlin critic is on the brink of death.
Doctor Yaroslav Ashikhmin said Saturday that the test results he received from Navalny’s family show him greatly elevated potassium levels, which can cause cardiac arrest, and elevated creatinine levels that indicate reduced kidneys.
“Our patient could die at any time,” he said in a Facebook post.
Anastasia Vasilyeva, head of the Navalny-backed Alliance of Doctors union, said on Twitter that “immediate action must be taken.”
Navalny is the most visible and adamant opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His personal doctors have not been allowed to see him in prison. He went on a hunger strike to protest the refusal to allow them to visit when he developed severe back pain and numbness in his legs. The Russian state prison has said that Navalny is getting all the medical attention he needs.
Navalny was arrested January 17 when he returned to Russia from Germany, where he had recovered for five months from Soviet nerve poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian officials denied any involvement and even questioned whether Navalny had been poisoned, which was confirmed by several European laboratories.
When asked about Navalny’s deteriorating condition, US President Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday, “It’s totally unfair and totally inappropriate. Based on having the poison and then on a hunger strike. “
Navalny was ordered to serve 2 1/2 years in prison because his long recovery in Germany violated a suspended sentence he had received for a fraud conviction in a case Navalny said was politically motivated.