According to The Insider, the Russian independent investigative outlet received access to "hundreds" of official documents that were drawn following the death of Alexei Navalny in a penal colony in Russia's Arctic.
The discrepancy between internal documents and the ones made public by the state suggests that officials have lied about the causes of death and forged documents meant for the public eye.
The initial documents detail moments before Navalny's death. According to papers signed by investigator Alexander Voropaev, Navalny felt sick, fell to the floor, and called for help, saying that he felt severe stomach pain and began to vomit.
In the final version of the same document, stomach pain and vomiting were omitted.
According to intensivist Alexander Polupan, who provided care for Navalny following his poisoning with Novichok nerve agent in 2020, all the symptoms in the initial documents hint at yet another poisoning.
"Such symptoms can hardly be explained by something other than poisoning," Polupan told The Insider.
Navalny was Russian President Vladimir Putin's main opponent, and the Kremlin had used all the tools at its disposal to shut him up.
He was sentenced in several criminal cases, and some of his allies have also been imprisoned.
Back in 2020, Navalny was poisoned in Russia and flown for treatment to Germany while in a coma.
German doctors, as well as several independent labs in Europe, said that he had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent – a chemical weapon produced by the Russian government.
A joint investigation by The Insider, Bellingcat, CNN, and Der Spiegel revealed that Navalny had been poisoned by agents of Russia's Federal Security Service. The media also identified the agents' names.
Oleg Sukhov
(Updated: )
