Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from a Berlin hospital after more than a month's treatment for poisoning, with doctors now believing that a "complete recovery" from the Soviet-era nerve agent is possible for him, the hospital said Wednesday.
Navalny spent 32 days at Berlin's Charite hospital, 24 of them in intensive care, before doctors deemed his "condition had improved sufficiently for him to be discharged from acute inpatient care." As he was released Tuesday, the 44-year-old displayed his characteristic sarcastic sense of humor. In an Instagram post, he took swipe at Russian President Vladimir Putin, scoffing at reported comments by the Russian leader suggesting that Navalny might have intentionally poisoned himself.
The hospital said based on Navalny's progress, physicians believe that a "complete recovery is possible," but added it "remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning."
In his post Tuesday night, he laughed off a report in the French newspaper Le Monde saying that Putin suggested to French President Emmanuel Macron in a call that he "could have taken the poison himself." "Good theory, I believe it deserves the most careful attention," Navalny wrote in Russian.
"Cooked Novichok in the kitchen. Took a sip from a flask on the plane. Fell into a coma." He wryly wrote that the "ultimate aim of my cunning plan" must have been to die in Siberia, where the cause of death would be "lived long enough." "But Putin outmaneuvered me. You can't fool him," Navalny wrote. "As a result, I lay in coma for 18 days like a fool, but didn't get my way. The provocation failed!"
