Kremlin critic Navalny now able to walk, posts photo

Alexey Navalny said in the Instagram update he still could not use his phone and had difficulties trying to pour water into his glass or climbing stairs because his legs trembled.

Alexey Navalny descends the stairs at Charite hospital in Berlin, Germany, in this undated image obtained from social media, September 19, 2020. Courtesy of Instagram @NAVALNY/Social Media.
Reuters

Alexey Navalny descends the stairs at Charite hospital in Berlin, Germany, in this undated image obtained from social media, September 19, 2020. Courtesy of Instagram @NAVALNY/Social Media.

Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny has posted a picture on Instagram of himself walking down stairs and said that his path to recovery was "clear, although long."

Navalny was seen walking down the stairs in a photo posted on his Instagram feed on Saturday, five days after a Berlin hospital said he had been taken off a ventilator and could breathe independently.

Navalny, the leading opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill in Siberia last month and was airlifted to Berlin. Germany says laboratory tests in three countries have determined he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, and Western governments have demanded an explanation from Russia.

READ MORE: Alexey Navalny posts selfie from hospital saying he is able to breathe

"Let me tell how my recovery is going. It is already a clear path although a long one," Navalny wrote.

Navalny said in the Instagram update he still could not use his phone and had difficulties trying to pour water into his glass or climbing stairs because his legs trembled.

"There are many problems yet to be solved but amazing doctors from the Charite hospital have solved the main one," the post said.

"They turned me from a 'technically alive human being' into someone who has high chances to become ... a man who can quickly scroll Instagram and understands without thinking where to put his likes."

READ MORE: Poisoned Russian opposition leader Navalny now able to leave bed

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Kremlin accuses Navalny aides of removing potential evidence

The Kremlin said on Friday Russia's ability to probe Navalny's suspected poisoning was "limited" and accused his aides of taking potential evidence out of the country.

Members of Navalny's team said on Thursday that German experts found Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent, on a water bottle taken from the Siberian hotel room where the Kremlin foe stayed before being taken ill last month.

The bottle appears to have been key evidence for Germany's conclusion that the 44-year-old outspoken critic of President Putin was poisoned with the banned chemical weapon.

Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday reiterated complaints that Moscow's hands were tied because Germany has not yet shared its findings with Russia and accused Navalny's aides of removing potential evidence.

READ MORE: Russia rejects claims Navalny poisoned with Novichok

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