Navalny moved to medical facility after falling ill with fever

Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, has been moved to an in-house medical facility after running a fever and displaying “signs of a respiratory illness”, the prison service said.

In an earlier message released by his team, the 44-year-old – who went on hunger strike last week after the jail refused to treat back pain – claimed several cellmates had been hospitalised with tuberculosis.

The prison’s statement offered no detail about when he took a turn for the worse, but said that all necessary tests had been done, including one for Covid-19.

In his message, the politician spoke of running a 38.1C temperature and experiencing a strong cough after three people from his prison section were hospitalised with TB.

He spoke about filthy plates in the dining room, joking that he was “surprised that there is no Ebola outbreak here yet, such is our ‘ideal, exemplary colony’.”

Mr Navalny went on hunger strike last Wednesday after authorities at his prison refused to let him see a doctor or receive medication from family. He has been in jail after returning to Russia from Germany in January, following his recovery from a nerve agent attack.

The fierce critic of Vladimir Putin has complained of a severe pain in his back that has spread to his right leg. He also said he is now losing sensation in his left leg.

His family and associates are worried that Mr Navalny’s health problems could be related to his near-fatal poisoning last August when the politician fell suddenly ill on a plane from Moscow to Siberia.

Since he was airlifted to Germany, several independent laboratories have confirmed that he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent.

Mr Navalny has accused the Russian government of trying to kill him.

He was sent to the IK-2 penal colony, east of Moscow, last month after he was sentenced to almost three years in prison for failing to see his probation officer while convalescing in Germany.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]