Health security

Russian opposition leader Navalny is hospitalized after suspected poisoning, spokeswoman says

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny has been hospitalized and is in intensive care, his spokeswoman said Thursday, adding that he may have been deliberately poisoned.

Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter that she suspects a poisonous substance was slipped into Navalny’s tea. Navalny had started to feel ill during a flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk, and the plane then made an emergency landing, Yarmysh said.

The tea “was the only thing Alexei drank this morning,” Yarmysh wrote on Twitter. “Doctors say the toxin is absorbed faster through hot liquid. Now Alexei is unconscious.”