Alexey Navalny received a visit from Angela Merkel in the hospital

Alexei Navalny in Berlin, September 23, 2020, after being released from hospital.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkela visited Alexeï Navalny during his hospitalization in Berlin, poisoned with a nerve agent according to European laboratories, announced the Russian opponent on Monday.

"I am very grateful to Chancellor Merkel for visiting me at the hospital," wrote Alexei Navalny on Twitter, confirming information published the day before by the German magazine

.

Navalny continues his recovery in Berlin

A tireless anti-corruption activist and fierce critic of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalny, 44, fell seriously ill on August 20 on a plane in Siberia.

Hospitalized initially in a Siberian city, he was then transferred to the Charité hospital in Berlin at the request of his relatives.

He was released from hospital last week and is continuing his recovery in the German capital.

Three European laboratories concluded that it was poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent, designed for military purposes in Soviet times, and Western capitals therefore called on Russia to explain and investigate.

Moscow rejects all accusations.

A meeting that is not "secret"

German magazine

said Sunday evening that Chancellor Angela Merkel had paid a "secret visit" to the Russian opponent during her hospitalization in Berlin, saying that she thus showed "the solidarity of the German government with Alexeï Navalny ".

"The fact that the Chancellor herself came to meet an opposition politician is one more sign to the Russian government that Berlin is not going to give in and wants to establish the truth behind this affair", assured

.

For his part, Alexeï Navalny called not to qualify this meeting as "secret".

“It was more of a private meeting and a conversation with the family,” he said.

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