Florian Iyer, professor of clinical toxicology at the Technical University of Munich, told DW that a highly toxic poison was found in the body of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, which cannot be found in the public domain.
At the moment, Navalny is undergoing treatment at the Berlin clinic “Charite”. German doctors indicate that his condition remains serious, but stable, there is no danger of death at the moment. The doctors also reported that they found a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors in the body of the oppositionist.
According to the German professor, this group includes drugs, some of which are used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as organophosphates that can be found in insecticides, pesticides, and battle poisons. For example, the poisonous chemical Novichok belongs to this group, he recalled.
“If a perfectly healthy patient suddenly has such problems out of the blue, then the first thought is about poisoning,” Iyer said, adding that it is not yet clear which chemical was used, so doctors are looking for something unknown.
He explained that we are talking about a chemical compound, about more than a hundred separate substances. There is a possibility that we will never know what kind of substance it was, he explained.