Navalny taken out of coma, responding to speech

DPA, 07TH SEPTEMBER, 2020-Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has been removed from his medically induced coma and is being weaned off mechanical ventilation, the Berlin hospital where he is being treated said  on Monday. 

A statement from the Charite hospital in the German capital said his condition “has improved.” Navalny is said to be responding to verbal stimuli. “It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning,” the statement said. Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critics, was transported to Germany in a comatose state on August 22, two days after falling ill on a domestic Russian flight. Germany has since said there is “unequivocal” evidence that he was the victim of a nerve agent attack.