Merkel privately visited Russian opposition leader Navalny in hospital after Novichok poisoning

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a Berlin hospital where he was recovering from a poisoning that kept him in a coma for weeks, he revealed on Monday.

Mr Navalny was discharged from the Charite hospital in Berlin last Wednesday after spending weeks on a ventilator in a medically induced coma.

The German media outlet Der Spiegel on Monday quoted unnamed sources saying that Chancellor Merkel went to see Mr Navalny in hospital in a sign of solidarity.

The 44-year old Russian politician confirmed the reports later in the day, insisting that there was nothing “secret” about the meeting.

“It was more of a private meeting and conversation with the family,” he tweeted. “I’m very grateful to Chancellor Merkel for seeing me in hospital.”

The top Kremlin critic did not say when the meeting took place or offer any details. Steffen Seibert, Mrs Merkel’s spokesman, described the meeting as “private.”

“It was a meeting with a person who fell sick after a nerve agent attack and who is being treated in Germany,” he said.

Mr Navalny fell suddenly ill on the plane from Siberia to Moscow at the end of August.

Several European laboratories independently confirmed that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok which was used in the 2018 attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

Mr Navalny spent two days in a Siberian hospital before he was evacuated to Germany where he was hospitalised for more than a month.

In his first social media post after he was discharged, Mr Navalny said last week he had a long recovery ahead of him and that he would need time to regain movement and muscle memory.

Kira Yarmysh, Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman, told the Telegraph on Monday that the politician is now able to type on his phone and computer - something that he was unable to do just a week ago.

The Russian opposition leader has vowed to return to Russia when he is recovered while the Kremlin said there was nothing stopping him from coming back to his home country.

Russian government officials have gone back and forth, either denying that he ever was poisoned with Novichok or insisted that it was only after he was evacuated to Germany that the traces of poison were found in his body.

Russia never launched a formal investigation, and Mr Navalny’s allies said traces of Novichok were found on the water bottles that they took from his hotel room shortly after the poisoning.