Alexei Navalny aides call for protests to save his life
Alexei Navalny
Aides of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called on Russians on Sunday to take to streets in order to save his life. Alexei Navalny is on a hunger strike in prison and his health is understood to be deteriorating.
"It's time to act. We are talking not just about Navalny's freedom but his life," Leonid Volkov said on Facebook as he urged Russians to turn out Wednesday evening, hours after President Vladimir Putin is to deliver his state of the nation address.
He said Wednesday's rally could become a decisive battle against "absolute evil" or Russia's last opposition rally for years to come.
"Call on all your acquaintances and take to central squares," wrote Volkov, who heads Navalny's regional offices, adding that Wednesday's street protests should become massive.
"Don't think that nothing depends on us."
Navalny can 'die any minute', say doctors
Doctors warned on Saturday that Alexei Navalny could 'die any minute'.
Navalny's personal doctor Anastasia Vasilyeva and three more doctors including cardiologist Yaroslav Ashikhmin have asked prison officials to grant them immediate access.
"Our patient can die any minute," Ashikhmin said on Facebook on Saturday, pointing to the opposition politician's high potassium levels and saying Navalny should be moved to intensive care.
"Fatal arrhythmia can develop any minute."
(With inputs from agencies)