Russia's Navalny ends hunger strike in jail after winning visit from a doctor

Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, said Friday that he is ending his hunger strike after doctors warned him that his life was in danger.

The announcement marks an end to a successful campaign to force the Russian authorities to allow him to see a civilian doctor.

Mr Navalny, who has been in custody since January, went on hunger strike more than three weeks ago after the prison administration refused to let him see civilian doctors.

The Kremlin’s most formidable critic has complained about severe back pain and numbness in his legs which could be traced back to his near-fatal poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent last summer.

Mr Navalny in a message passed by his lawyer and published on Friday said that he is ending his 24-day long hunger strike after reading an appeal from his doctors, saying that unless he stops, “there will be no one left to treat any longer.”

“My friends, my heart is full of love and gratitude but I don’t want anyone to suffer because of me,” he said in the message released by his team.

In a major push to secure treatment for Mr Navalny, his supporters mounted nationwide protests on Wednesday in nearly 100 Russian towns and cities.

In Moscow, several thousand people roamed the city centre for hours, chanting “Free Navalny!”

The 44-year-old politician,who was sentenced in February to nearly three years in prison for breaking the terms of his parole, confirmed on Friday that he has been seen by civilian doctors twice and that he got the tests that he needed.

He credited the public campaign for getting at least some of his demands met. Mr Navalny, however, is not out of the woods yet.

His personal physician and four other Moscow-based doctors, who still have not been allowed to examine him, in a statement on Friday voiced concern about the fact that Mr Navalny does not have access to the right kind of pain-killers, according to the medical files they saw.

They also said that Mr Navalny should be moved to a Moscow hospital where doctors could make sure that he can safely exit his hunger strike.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied Russia’s involvement in Mr Navalny’s poisoning and has insisted that Mr Navalny is receiving the medical treatment in custody that he requires.