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Kremlin critic Navalny sent to prison hospital amid hunger strike

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in the third week of a hunger strike while behind bars, was moved to a hospital in another prison after his doctor said he could be near death, his lawyer said Monday.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in the third week of a hunger strike while behind bars, was moved to a hospital in another prison after his doctor said he could be near death, his lawyer said Monday. Navalny was transferred Sunday from a penal colony east of Moscow to a prison hospital in Vladimir, a city 110 miles east of the capital, lawyer Alexei Liptser said after visiting the politician on Monday afternoon. “Yesterday he was really unwell…. Given the test results and the overall state of his health, it was decided to transfer him here. In the evening, he became significantly worse,” Liptser said. While Navalny was able to meet with him Monday, he continued his hunger strike and “in general his look indicates he is really unwell,” the lawyer added. Russia’s state penitentiary service FSIN did not report the decision to transfer Navalny until Monday morning and a statement it released said he had agreed to take vitamin therapy. Liptser said he didn’t have enough time with his client to confirm that: “They were searching him ahead of our meeting longer than our meeting had lasted. He was outraged by this. Therefore, we couldn’t discuss anything, apart from what has happened to him.” The prison service statement said Navalny’s condition was deemed “satisfactory.” But the opposition leader’s physician, Dr. Yaroslav Ashikhmin, said Saturday that test results provided by the family show Navalny has sharply elevated levels of potassium, which can bring on cardiac arrest, as well as heightened creatinine levels that indicate impaired kidney function. “Our patient could die at any moment,” he said in a Facebook post. Reports about his rapidly declining health drew international outrage and calls urging Russian authorities to give adequate medical help to Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest opponent. European Union foreign ministers were assessing the bloc’s strategy toward Russia in wake of the news.

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