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The health of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is deteriorating and he is beginning to lose sensation in his legs and hands, his lawyer says. Vadim Kobzev said Navalny, who has been sent to a penal colony for two and a half years, had been diagnosed with two spinal hernias. Last week, Navalny started a hunger strike to demand proper treatment for acute back and leg pain.
Alexei Navalny’s lawyer has said confirmed that the opposition leader is “seriously ill” after reports emerged that he had been transferred to a prison sick ward for a respiratory illness and had been tested for coronavirus. Navalny declared a hunger strike last week because he had been denied a visit from a personal doctor for growing numbness and pain in his back and legs that had made it difficult for him to walk.
Russia says it has registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine for animals. Clinical trials of Carnivac-Cov started in October and involved dogs, cats, foxes, mink and other animals, the country’s agriculture safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said on Wednesday. Mass production of the vaccine could start as early as April, the watchdog said. It also claimed the jab would help prevent mutations in animals.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that it takes one to know one after the U.S. president said he thought Putin was a killer, adding that he wished Biden good health. Putin was speaking on television after Biden, in an ABC News interview that prompted Russia to recall its Washington ambassador for consultations on Wednesday, said “I do” when asked if he believed the Russian president was a killer.
Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help Donald Trump in last November’s presidential election, according to a declassified intelligence assessment that found broad efforts by the Kremlin and Iran to shape the outcome of the race but ultimately no evidence that any foreign actor changed votes or otherwise disrupted the voting process. The report is the latest official affirmation of the integrity of the election.
Russia said Wednesday it was slowing down the speed of Twitter in retaliation for its alleged failure to remove banned content and threatened a total block if the U.S. platform did not comply with its deletion demands. The move comes weeks after Russian authorities accused Twitter and others of failing to delete posts it said illegally urged children to take part in anti-Kremlin protests.
Russia said on Friday it would be ready to sever ties with the European Union if the bloc hit it with painful economic sanctions, a statement that Germany described as disconcerting and incomprehensible. Ties between Russia and the West, already at post-Cold War lows, have come under renewed pressure over the arrest and jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who was jailed this week over a years-old fraud case, denied wrongdoing during a court hearing Friday on separate charges that he defamed a World War Two veteran. Navalny accused prosecutors of a “shameless” pursuit of “fabricated” cases and said he did not understand the latest allegations against him, which relate to comments he made last June on social media.
More than 200 supporters of Russian opposition leader and main Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were arrested Tuesday outside a trial hearing that could see him imprisoned for up to three-and-a-half years. At least 237 people were arrested while the hearing was taking place, days after more than 5,000 people were detained across the country for protesting in support of Navalny.
European Union foreign ministers will consider potential “next steps” against Russia after western nations condemned the Kremlin’s harsh treatment of demonstrators calling for the release of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Clashes broke out in Moscow, St Petersburg, Vladivostok and other cities on Saturday and some protesters clashed with riot police in body armour and helmets. Dozens of people were injured.