Russian agents tried to poison famous opposition figure Alexei Navalny a second time after the first attempt failed. British newspaper The Sunday Times writes about this with reference to anonymous sources in Western intelligence.
A second dose of poison was allegedly given to Navalny before he was flown to Berlin for further treatment.
The anti-corruption activist fell ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow after having been poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent.
The pilot of the plane made an emergency landing in the city of Omsk allowing an ambulance crew to administer him with atropine, an antidote for poison.
"Giving a second dose of Novichok would undoubtedly increase the chances of killing," Alastair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at Leeds University said.
"But if he were already 'atropinized,' this would counteract the nerve agent, although it might mean prolonging his coma. The toxin would take longer to be degraded in the liver."
As we reported earlier, on August 20, Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was urgently hospitalized during his return to Moscow from Tomsk. He felt bad during the flight and the plane was urgently landed in Omsk. Alexei Navalny was put on a ventilator. Later, the doctors reported that Navalny was not poisoned. The head physician claimed that his metabolism has been impaired.
On September 2, a special laboratory of the Bundeswehr has conducted a toxicological test using samples from Alexei Navalny and came to the conclusion that the Russian politician was poisoned with a substance of neuro-paralytic agent from the Novichok group.
