Alexei Navalny ill, perhaps poisoned

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow in 2021. Pic/AP

Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in failing health because of a new suspected poisoning and is back in a punishment cell after a few days in regular confinement, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Anna Veduta, a Washington, DC-based vice president of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, told The Associated Press the 46-year-old Navalny fell ill last Friday when he was let out of the punishment cell and put in a conventional cell. He had lost about 18 pounds over the past 15 days. On Monday, Navalny wrote on Twitter, he was put back in a punishment cell for another 15-day term.

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An ambulance was called early Saturday because of acute stomach pains but Navalny received no diagnosis, one of his lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, wrote on Twitter after visiting him in prison. "We believe he is slowly being administered low doses of poison, in pills he is given without identification," Veduta said.

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