Alexei Navalny was reportedly poisoned in Tomsk: he fell ill during the flight, and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk.
Navalny was rushed to hospital and is now unconscious and is connected to a ventilator.
His relatives insisted on transferring him to a hospital in Germany, and a private jet has already arrived in Omsk, but doctors said his condition was too unstable to transport him.
Here are some facts about the poisoning. A representative of the transport police told that the substance with which Navalny was poisoned was extremely toxic to the extent that a protection suit might be needed to deal with it. At the same time, the type and name of the toxic agent is not revealed due to the secrecy of the investigation.
It is important to note that the version with deliberate poisoning remains the dominant one. Indeed, a simple food poisoning could not have led to such a serious condition. At the time of this writing, Navalny is in a coma in a hospital in Omsk. Doctors refuse to send him to a German clinic, even though Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that there were no obstacles to this. Merkel and Macron said they were ready to help Navalny with treatment.
Belarus: the crisis is getting worse
As we mentioned earlier, the majority of Belarus citizens voted against President Alexander Lukashenko in the elections on August 9. Now people demand that Lukashenko transfers the power. For this, the Coordination Council (CC) has been created. In the media, the Coordination Council is called an opposition. However, this is not exactly so, since Alexander Lukashenka is in the minority, and, in fact, he is the opposition. Lukashenko still insists that 80% of Belarusians allegedly voted for him. Yet, the research from independent observers "Golos" based on the collected data proved that even in theory Lukashenko could not get more than 61.7%. Thus, the announced results are grossly falsified. The most likely election results without falsification are as follows: Tikhanovskaya 55-60% and Lukashenko 35-40%.
The Coordination Council and citizens are planning a huge new rally in Minsk at the weekend. They insist that Lukashenko should step down and new elections should be conducted. They also demand freedom for all political prisoners, including presidential candidates Viktor Babariko and his son and S. Tikhanovsky.
Many enterprises in Belarus are holding a political strike. Yet, the administration exerts strong pressure on the workers, trying to intimidate them.
Alexander Lukashenko, in a way, has started negotiations with the protesters and the Coordination Council. Ironically, two members of the CC were summoned for interrogation by the investigating authorities and a criminal case was initiated against the CC on seizing power.
Currently the situation in the country can be described as dual power. If Lukashenko manages to arrest or dismiss the Coordination Council, this will be his big victory in this unrest.
We continue to monitor the situation.
