Russia’s Alexei Navalny reveals slow road to recovery after being poisoned with Novichok

The opposition politician says he can walk with a ‘tremble’ and is able to speak again

While it will take a while until he can hold his phone and pour water for himself, allies say Navalny intends to ultimately return to Russia

Reading Time:2 minutes

Alexei Navalny in Berlin’s Charite hospital. Photo: Instagram account @navalny / AFP

Published: 9:26pm, 19 Sep 2020Updated: 9:26pm, 19 Sep 2020

Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Saturday opened up on his slow road to recovery a month after he was poisoned, saying he could now walk with a “tremble”, although he still struggled with basic mobility and until recently, could not even speak.

The 44-year-old Kremlin critic posted a photo of himself walking down a flight of stairs on Instagram and described how earlier symptoms had included the inability to form words.

“Now I am a guy whose legs tremble when he takes the stairs,” he wrote, detailing moments of “despair” as doctors help him overcome the effects of the nerve agent Novichok.

Not long ago, I didn’t recognise people and didn’t understand how to talk

Alexei Navalny

This latest update on his progress came after he said on Instagram on Tuesday that he had spent a first day breathing unassisted.

The anti-corruption campaigner fell ill on a plane from Siberia to Moscow on August 20 and spent two days in a Russian hospital before being airlifted to Berlin’s Charite hospital.

Navalny said in his update that during the initial days of his recovery, he had needed therapy to help him recover his speech as he struggled to form words.

Alexei Navalny says his road to recovery will be a long one. Photo: Instagram account @navalny / AFP

Navalny thanked the hospital's “brilliant doctors” in the message published on Instagram on Saturday.