Merkel is secretly visiting "Putin's enemy" in the Berlin hospital
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny announced Monday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited him in a hospital in Berlin, where he was recovering after he was poisoned with Novichok.
"I am grateful to Chancellor Merkel for visiting me in the hospital," the opposition said on Twitter, after reports of the meeting spread in the German media.
The German magazine Der Spiegel confirmed on Sunday evening that the German chancellor had made a "secret visit" to the Russian exhibitors while he was in the hospital, noting that by this it showed "the German government's solidarity with Alexei Navalny."
The magazine pointed out that "the fact that the chancellor came herself to meet an opposition politician is another indication to the Russian government that Berlin will not give up and wants to reveal the truth about what happened on this issue."
For his part, Navalny called for not to describe this meeting as "secret."
"It was a private meeting and a meeting with the family," he said.
The 44-year-old Kremlin opponent and anti-corruption campaigner fell sick after boarding a plane in Siberia on August 20.
He was initially treated in a hospital in Siberia, then was transferred to the Charité Hospital in Berlin at the request of his relatives.
He was discharged from hospital last week and is spending his recovery period in the German capital.
Three European laboratories concluded that he was poisoned with the nerve-poisonous substance Novichok, which was developed by Soviet experts for military purposes, which prompted several Western capitals to ask Russia to provide explanations and conduct an investigation, and Moscow denies these accusations.
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