Alexei Navalny, one of Vladimir Putin’s biggest critics, has been moved to a hospital prison.
The Russian penitentiary system released a statement on Monday acknowledging the transfer, two days after reports surfaced that his health deteriorated to such an extent that he “could die at any moment.” Navalny, 44, began a hunger strike three weeks ago as a protest to the lack of medical care he was receiving.
The prison service added that Navalny has agreed to take vitamin therapy and called his overall health “satisfactory,” according to the Associated Press.
NAVALNY ANNOUNCES HUNGER STRIKE IN PRISON IN DEMAND FOR PROPER MEDICAL CARE
Despite the transfer, his own team, which runs his social media accounts, claims that doctors are still not allowed to see him.
On Saturday, Navalny’s personal doctor, Yaroslav Ashikhmin, said in a Facebook post that he was suffering from high potassium levels, which is indicative of kidney failure and could lead to heart problems.
“Our patient can die at any moment,” the doctor wrote.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Russia of “consequences” on Sunday and said, “they will be held accountable by the international community” if Navalny dies.
In January, Navalny returned to Russia after receiving treatment in Germany for nerve agent poisoning, which experts suspect was a result of a plot by the Russian government to have him killed. Upon returning to the country, Navalny was arrested and sentenced to serve 2 1/2 years in prison for violating the terms of his parole, and he has insisted that the charges are retribution. His sentence was reduced minimally by an appeals court.
Amid Navanly’s deteriorating health, subsequent protests since his arrest, and in response to the Solar Winds cyberattack, both the Kremlin and the United States have removed diplomats from the other nation.
The removals followed an executive order signed by President Joe Biden banning U.S. financial institutions from dealing with and lending to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation in ruble and nonruble denominated funds and primary market bonds, effective June 14.
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A senior administration official told reporters that the sanctions were “a clear signal to the Russian government that we will not accept destabilizing behavior that harms the United States, our people, our allies and partners, and that we will respond with economically impactful costs.”
