The head of a hospital treating Alexei Navalny, an anti-government social worker in Russia, has been missing for three days in a Siberian forest.
This area of the Omsk region is very swampy and difficult to reach, but helicopters and drones are being used for this search operation.
Dr. Alexander Morakhavsky, 49, was out hunting on Friday and his car was later found. Alexei Navalny was first treated in Omsk and later transferred to Berlin. Western experts believe he was poisoned. Two senior doctors at the Omsk hospital, aged 55 and 63, died that year.
The hospital, headed by Dr. Alexander Morakhavsky, said last year that it had found no signs of poison in Alexei Navalny's body. Last year, Alexei Navalny fainted and almost died.
The Russian government has repeatedly denied allegations that Russian state agents tried to assassinate Alexei Navalny. However, tests in three Western countries revealed that he had Russian neuro-agent Novi Chowk in his body.
Police, a team from the Ministry of Natural Disasters, and volunteers are searching for Dr. Alexander Morakhavsky. The forest is located about 2200 km east of Moscow.
Dr. Alexander Morakhavsky's car was found in the village of Paspiev. Dr. Alexander Morakhavsky is currently the Minister of Health of the Omsk region.
Who is Alexei Navalny, Putin's critic?
Alexei Navalny, Russia's anti-corruption campaigner, has long been a prominent figure in opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Criticism of the Russian president continues despite attempts to assassinate him and imprisonment.
The 44-year-old blogger has millions of Russian followers on social media and tens of thousands of people came out in support of him at anti-government rallies in January 2021.
He says Putin's United Russia party is a gang of "thugs and thieves" and has accused the president of "sucking Russia's blood" through a "feudal state" while prolonging his rule in the Kremlin.
He accused authorities of trying to assassinate him in August 2020 with a nerve-wracking poison. He has led nationwide protests against the authorities, but has failed to effectively challenge Putin at the ballot box.
He was barred from running in the 2018 presidential election after being convicted of embezzlement by a Russian court.
Navalny vehemently denied the allegations, saying his legal problems were a response to the Kremlin's harsh criticism of him. The same sentence would later lead to his imprisonment.
