Russian opposition politician Navalny’s treatment in Germany could last ‘weeks’

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is likely to remain in Germany for weeks as he still requires lengthy treatment to help him recover from poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.

The 44-year-old Kremlin critic was discharged on Wednesday from a Berlin hospital after he fell violently ill in Siberia and tests found he was poisoned with Novichok nerve agent.

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“Navalny’s recovery process will naturally take a long time,” his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said in an online broadcast late Thursday.

“He is staying in Germany for now, he will undergo rehabilitation there. It’s clearly not a question of a few days and probably not a couple of weeks,” she said.

Read more: Russian opposition figure Navalny says Novichok found ‘in and on’ his body

Navalny wrote in a post on Instagram on Wednesday about the after-effects of poisoning, saying he cannot throw a ball with his left hand and is struggling to write.

He said he was seeing a physiotherapist every day, working to regain balance and control of his fingers, and may attend a rehabilitation center.

He said he had asked a neuropsychologist how to “get back not only from the physical point of view but in my head too,” and was advised to read a lot, write on social media and play video games.

Yarmysh said on Thursday that Russian bailiffs had frozen Navalny’s flat in Moscow and bank accounts over a court judgement ordering him and his allies to pay almost 88 million rubles ($1.1 million at the current exchange rate) to a company they targeted in an investigation.