Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny ends 24-day hunger strike
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny said Friday he is ending his over three-week hunger strike — because doctors warned him that continuing it could endanger his life.
The 44-year-old Kremlin critic — who began his hunger strike on March 31 to demand proper care for leg and back pain — said on Instagram that he will continue to ask for medical help for the loss of sensation in his limbs.
But he said he would stop the strike after having been examined by non-prison doctors — something he called “a huge progress.”
“Thank you – I have now been examined twice by a panel of civilian doctors. The last time was just before the rally. They are doing tests and analyses and giving me the results and conclusions,” Navalny wrote.
“I am not withdrawing my request to allow the necessary doctor to see me – I am losing feeling in areas of my arms and legs, and I want to understand what it is and how to treat it, but considering the progress and all the circumstances, I am beginning to come out of the hunger strike,” he added.
Navalny, who is serving a 2½-year sentence, said he would start “coming out of the hunger strike” on Friday, but that the process of ending it completely will take 24 days.
Officials have insisted that Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most well-known critic, was receiving all the medical help he needs, but he claimed he has received effectively no treatment.
Last year, Navalny survived a nerve agent attack that Russia has denied carrying out.
With Post wires
