The famous anti-corruption activist in Russia Alexei Navalny has officially become the "guest of the German chancellor" when he was transported by plane to Berlin, for medical treatment and transported by military ambulance.
The convoy of vehicles carrying Navalny, described by German newspaper Bild as a " benh nhan being monitored by the whole world", included several ambulances, police buses and patrol vehicles.
Alexei Navalny - who was in a coma throughout his journey - was taken to Berlin's famous Charite Hospital by a special ambulance of the German Bundeswehr armed forces. The car has a military symbol and a special license plate with a Y start, used exclusively for the German army.
Navalny was transported from the city of Omsk in Siberia on the morning of August 22. FlightRadar online flight tracking service shows the private plane, leased by the Berlin-based non-governmental organization Cinema for Peace, preparing to land at Berlin's Schonefeld Airport. However, the plane actually landed at the capital's Tegel Airport, in a military airfield area. According to Bild, it was a "intentional" misinformation strategy by the government.
A German government spokesman said the move of Navalny was a private initiative. At the same time, ZDF TV channel reported that Navalny is considered a "prime minister's customer" in German official documents. The Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed to the TV channel that this was done to "ensure the police protection is as good as possible".
German media previously said that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office and the German Foreign Ministry were "working behind the scenes" to help arrange Navalny's flight. Leonid Volkov, a long-time close associate of the activist, thanked Merkel and the German government for supporting and assisting in resolving a large number of administrative and security issues.
Alexei Navalny suddenly felt unwell and unconscious shortly after boarding a plane on a trip from Siberia to Moscow on August 20. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, where Navalny had to be hospitalized.
The spokesman and his family accused Alexei Navalny of poisoning, but doctors treating him in Russia could not find traces of the poison in his body.
Navalny's colleagues have pushed for him to be taken to Germany as a matter of urgency, arguing he cannot be treated fairly in Omsk. Local doctors initially confirmed that the actor's condition was not stable enough to travel, but later allowed him to be transferred to Berlin.
