A Russian doctor who treated Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny immediately after the poison attack last August has died at the age of 56. The deputy chief physician for anesthesiology and resuscitation, Sergei Maksimischin, „died suddenly,“ said the clinic in the Siberian city of Omsk. Maksimishin worked in the hospital for 28 years.
Navalny’s foreign co-worker Leonid Volkov told the US news channel CNN that the medic had been responsible for treating the opposition for two days before he was flown to Germany. „He knew more than anyone else about Alexei’s condition.“
In November, the head physician Alexander Murachowski, who had come under criticism for Nawalny’s treatment, was promoted to the region’s health minister in the same clinic. At that time, Murachowski had only certified Navalny with a metabolic disorder. According to his information, there was no evidence of poisoning. Navalny accused him of „falsifying“ the diagnosis.
Suspected of being poisoned
The Russian opposition leader collapsed during a flight on August 20. After a stopover, the 44-year-old came to the Omsk hospital. On August 22nd, Navalny was flown to Berlin and treated for weeks in the Charite.
According to studies by several laboratories, he was poisoned with a warfare agent from the Novichok group. Russia, on the other hand, claims that Navalny was not poisoned and is therefore not initiating an investigation.
Navalny himself was arrested on his return in Moscow and sentenced to several years in a prison camp earlier this week for violating probation conditions in a previous criminal case for fraud and embezzlement of funds while in Germany.
