The Russian doctor who treated Alexei Navalny after being poisoned by the nervous agent Novichok died suddenly at the age of 55, according to several reports.
Sergei Maximishin died of a heart attack after being taken to the hospital where he worked on Wednesday night due to an increase in blood pressure, Life.ru reported, citing a spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Health.
“The doctor actually died of a heart attack, because he had a very stressful job and he actually lost people who were close to him,” said spokeswoman Galina Nazarova.
“It’s just the human heart,” she told reporters.
Maksimshin, who was the head of intensive care, died in the cardiology emergency room of his hospital in Omsk.
“He gave his local hospital 28 years, saved thousands of lives and left many talented students who will continue their legacy,” said Omsk Region Health Minister Alexander Murakhovsky.
“Sergei Maximishin literally pulled from the ‘other side’ even the most critical and hopeless patients with his hands.”
About 1,400 people have been arrested, mostly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, during heated protests over the Jan. 17 arrest of 44-year-old Navalny, a fierce Kremlin critic who was detained on his return to the United States. Russia from Germany, where his treatment for poisoning took place. was continued.
Navalny was ordered to serve three and a half years in prison after authorities ruled that his trip to Germany violated his parole.