- The US has threatened Russia with sanctions and other consequences if Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies in state prison.
- Last month, Navalny said he would go on hunger strike in prison until he could see a doctor.
- Navalny recovers after being poisoned by a nervous agent Novichok in Russia.
- See more articles on the Insider business page.
Russia will face severe consequences, such as sanctions, if Alexei Navalny, a top critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, dies in prison, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.
“I have told the Russian government that what is happening to Mr Navalny in their custody is their responsibility and they will be held accountable by the international community,” Sullivan said in an interview with CNN’s State of the Union.
“As for the specific measures we would take, we are looking at a variety of different costs that we would impose and I will not telegraph publicly at this time,” he added. “But I have communicated that there will be consequences if Mr Navalny dies.”
—State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 18, 2021
Navalny is serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for lack of conditional hearings while recovering in Germany after being poisoned by a nerve agent Novichok in Russia.
Last month, Navalny said he would go on hunger strike in prison until he was allowed to see a doctor.
“The right to invite a specialist for examination and consultation exists for every convict. Even for me, despite the fact that I am not guilty,” he said on Twitter. “Therefore, I urge a doctor to let me see him, and until that happens, I will go on a hunger strike.”
In a more detailed post on Instagram, Navalny said that he suffered back pain and that he lost his sensitivity in the parts of his right leg and in most of his left leg.
Doctors sounded the alarm, urgently asking to see him. They warned prison officials that if Navalny did not receive immediate medical care and treatment, he could die at any time.
At least four doctors have so far requested to see him. Navalny’s personal doctor, Anastasia Vasilyeva, wrote to prison officials that her potassium level was dangerously high, Sinéad Baker of Insider said, which could lead to devastating heart problems.
“Our patient can die at any minute,” said cardiologist Yaroslav Ashikhmin, adding that “fatal arrhythmia can develop at any minute.”
Russian officials said prison authorities offered medical assistance to Navalny, but he refused because he wanted to see a doctor of his choice.
President Joe Biden denounced this weekend the conditions Navalny is subjected to in the Russian prison, saying that it is “totally inappropriate”.
“It’s totally, completely unfair,” Biden said.
Navalny allies are planning mass protests in the streets on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The protests, which the Russian authorities have repressed in the past, will take place on the same day that Putin is due to give an annual state speech to the nation, Reuters said.
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