Navalny doctor says he could ‘die at any moment’

The doctor for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny warned that he could die as his health deteriorates in the midst of a hunger strike.

Yaroslav Ashikhmin, Navalny’s doctor, said in a post on Facebook that “our patient could die at any moment” and that he had received test results from Navalny’s family showing the opposition leader has high levels of potassium in his system, putting him at increased risk of cardiac arrest.

The tests also revealed increased creatinine levels, which could indicate failing kidneys. 

President Biden on Saturday afternoon told a pool of reporters that Navalny’s conditions were “totally, totally unfair.”

“It’s totally, totally unfair, totally inappropriate,” Biden said. “On the basis of having been poisoned and then on a hunger strike. Wrong.” 

News of the opposition leader’s deteriorating health comes as Navalny is three weeks into a hunger strike in prison to protest the availability of medical care in the detention center. 

His personal physicians have not been allowed to visit him.

Earlier this month, a lawyer for Navalny said that he was suffering from two spinal hernias and was beginning to lose feeling in his hands. 

Navalny was arrested on Jan. 17 when he returned from Germany, where he was recovering from being poisoned on a train in Siberia. Navalny and world leaders have blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poisoning, but the Kremlin has denied any involvement.

Navalny is currently serving a 2.5-year prison sentence for violating his parole from a fraud conviction when he was transported to Germany.

Updated 6:58 p.m.

— Jordan Williams contributed to this report