Opposition leader Alexei Navalny is “free to return” to Russia after he was discharged from a German hospital following weeks in a coma, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. After being taken to intensive care for a nerve agent poisoning in August, Mr Navalny has now recovered enough to be released from inpatient care, the Charite hospital in Berlin said in a statement on Wednesday. German doctors also mentioned for the first time that they now believe that “complete recovery is possible” for the Russian opposition leader while adding that it was too early to talk about potential long-term damage to his health from the poisoning. Asked about the opposition leader’s potential return, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies on Wednesday that there were no obstacles for Mr Navalny to go back to Russia. “In terms of his return to Moscow, he is free to do it at any moment like any other Russian citizen,” Mr Peskov said. Mr Navalny earlier on Wednesday posted the first photograph of himself out of the hospital on his Instagram account. Pictured on a bench in the woods, a visibly frail Mr Navalny said that the first thing he asked his family to do after leaving hospital was to “take me somewhere with trees.” “That day has come – hurrah! – and doctors at the hospital have decided after 32 days that my recovery now requires a normal life instead of inpatient care,” the Russian politician wrote.
