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Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny 'to return to Russia on Jan. 17'

Wednesday, 13 January 2021 10:23 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 13 January 2021 10:31 AM ]

This grab, taken from a video posted on January 13, 2021 on the Instagram account of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny shows him recording an address in Germany. (Via AFP)

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny has announced his decision to return to Russia after a lengthy recuperation period from alleged poisoning in Germany.

Navalny said on Wednesday that he had almost totally recovered and would return home on Sunday, January 17.

"There was never any question of 'returning or not' for me. Simply because I didn't leave. I ended up in Germany... for one reason: they tried to kill me" by poisoning, Navalny claimed on his social media account on Instagram.

Navalny, 45, was taken ill on a domestic flight on August 20 last year. He was later transported to the German capital, where he was hospitalized with alleged poisoning. His aides had already claimed that he had been poisoned before the domestic Russian flight, blaming Moscow.

But the Russian doctors who examined Navalny before he was moved to Germany said at the time that they had found no trace of a toxic substance in his blood sample.

The Russian government has also denied any involvement in any attack on the opposition figure.

Moscow maintains that Western media coverage of the case of the Russian opposition figure serves as a pretext to promote new sanctions against Russia.

Russia accuses West of using Navalny poisoning allegations as sanctions pretext

Russia accuses the West of using the alleged poisoning of opposition figure Navalny as a pretext to promote new sanctions against Moscow.

Navalny, who has violated the terms of a suspended prison sentence, could face prison time upon his return.

Late last year, Russia’s prison service called on the opposition figure to return from Germany and abide by the terms of the suspended prison sentence or face its transformation to a real jail term.

Navalny received a suspended three-and-a-half-year prison term over a theft case on December 30, 2014.

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