Putin critic Navalny makes first video appearance since coma

Kremlin critic AlexeiNavalny has made his first video appearance since he was discharged from a Berlin hospital in aninterview to a prominent Russian YouTube blogger.

Ina more than two-hour video interview,Navalny saidhis health had much improved and that doctors were surprised by the speed of his recovery, but that his hands shake significantly and he was undergoing physical therapy.

The44-year-oldemerged from a coma in recent weeks after collapsing on a domestic flight in Russian Siberia in August. He was flown to Berlin for treatment and German doctors say he was poisoned with Novichok, a rare Russian nerve agent.

The defiantanti-corruption campaigner had accused RussianPresident Vladimir Putinof being behind his poisoning.

Kremlin had retaliated by saying that Navalny wasworking with the CIA and making "groundless and unacceptable statements".

Earlier Thursday, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, also accused the "shameless" opposition leader of working for Western security services and claimedNavalnyowed his life to Putin.

A spokesman for GermanChancellor Angela Merkel had said the countrywill not rule out consequences for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project if Russia fails to thoroughly investigate the incident.

Asked whether Merkel would protect the multi-billion-euro pipeline from Russia to Europe if Germany were to seek sanctions over the Navalny case, spokesman Steffen Seibert said: "The chancellor believes it would be wrong to rule anything out from the start."

Nord Stream 2, a $11-billionpipeline near completion beneath the Baltic Sea, is set to double Russian natural-gas shipments to Germany, Europe's largest economy.

It has long been in the crosshairs of the United States, which has criticised European countries for their reliance on energy from Russia.