Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny out of induced coma and is responsive, doctors say

Angela Merkel said last week there was "unequivocal evidence" Navalny was poisoned.

Doctors treating the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have said he is out of an induced coma and is responding to speech. Navalny was flown to Germany and is being treated at Charité hospital in Berlin after falling ill on a flight in Siberia in August. His condition is improving and he is going to be gradually disconnected from the ventilator he's currently using. "The patient has been removed from his medically-induced coma and is being weaned off mechanical ventilation," the Charité hospital said. "He is responding to verbal stimuli. It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning." Navalny's team says he was poisoned on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has denied involvement. Speaking last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was "unequivocal evidence" he had been poisoned using a Novichok nerve agent. She said it raised questions that only the Russian government can answer and called on them to answer them. Novichok applies to a group of advanced nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. NATO's secretary-general called it an "appalling assassination attempt" on Navalny and called for Moscow to answer to investigations into the matter. "There is proof beyond doubt that Mr Navalny was poisoned using a military-grade nerve agent from the Novichok group," Jens Stoltenberg said. Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas has threatened to abandon Germany's joint underwater gas pipeline project with Russia over the incident unless Moscow starts cooperating with the investigation. "I hope the Russians won't force us to change our position regarding the Nord Stream 2," Mass told German newspaper Bild. "If there won't be any contributions from the Russian side regarding the investigation in the coming days, we will have to consult with our partners."