‘Rapid drop in blood sugar levels’ preliminary diagnosis behind Moscow protest leader Navalny’s illness – medical team leader

Dr Alexander Murakhovsky added that doctors have refused to allow the activist to be evacuated by plane to Germany because “this [metabolic] instability can increase during takeoff and landing.”

“Today, we have worked out a diagnosis. The main one, which we are inclined to favor, is a disorder in the carbohydrate balance, that is, a metabolic disorder,” he claimed on Friday afternoon. “This could lead to a sharp drop in blood sugar, which can cause a loss of consciousness.”

Murakhovsky also commented on reports of a dangerous substance found on Navalny’s body. He said it turned out to be material from a plastic cup or plate, dubbing it “ordinary industrial chemistry.”

Earlier, his deputy, Dr Anatoly Kalinichenko, revealed that poisons or traces of them were not found in the blood and urine of the anti-corruption campaigner. 

On Friday morning, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Ivan Zhdanov, said that police had mentioned the presence of a “deadly substance.”

A plane was sent from Germany overnight to transfer the activist to a hospital there. However, by the time the jet landed at Omsk airport, doctors declared that Navalny’s condition wasn’t sufficiently stable for such a trip. According to Dr Kalinichenko, drops in pressure during the flight may worsen the patients condition. 

Navalny was hospitalized at an emergency facility in Omsk on Thursday after he became ill during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, which made an emergency landing. His associates believe he was poisoned with a substance placed tea he consumed at Omsk airport. They insist he be tested and treated abroad. 

The Moscow protest leader’s condition improved on Friday, according to doctors, but he remains in a coma and is attached to a ventilator. 

DETAILS TO FOLLOW