Poisoned Russian opposition leader diagnosed with metabolic disease

Kremlin critic and main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny has been diagnosed with a metabolic disease caused by low blood sugar, so says the head doctor at the Siberian hospital treating Kremlin on Friday.

Alexander Murakhovsky, the head doctor at the hospital treating Navalny in the city of Omsk, also said traces of industrial chemical substances had been found on the 44-year-old’s clothes and fingers.

“Today we have some working diagnoses. The main one is … a metabolic disorder,” Murakhovsky said, adding that Navalny’s condition “may be caused by a sudden drop of blood sugar levels”.

The announcement came shortly after allies of Navalny accused the Kremlin of thwarting his medical evacuation to Germany, saying the decision places his life in mortal danger because the Siberian hospital treating him is under-equipped.

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh informed that her boss was flying from Siberia to Moscow after a work trip to Tomsk when his plane made an emergency landing after he fell ill.