Sergey Maximishin, the Russian doctor who treated Alexei Navalny, has died suddenly at the age of 55 (CNN). On August 20, 2020 Navalny was admitted to an emergency hospital in Omsk where Maximishin was a deputy chief physician treated him. Navalny was put into an induced coma and transported to a hospital in Germany. He had been poisoned by a nerve agent called Novichok. Navalny is a anti-corruption and opposition leader in Russia.

In December while still recovering, Navalny conducted a “sting” on telephone of agents of the FSB (CNN). Agent Konstantin Kudryavtsev was in a long conversation with Navalny, thinking he was a top FSB official, about the poisoning.

On January 17th Navalny returned to Russian and was arrested for violating parole on an earlier charge. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in a penal colony. Protests erupted on the 23rd in response to this news and a movie about Putin’s Palace. Approximately 3.300 people were detained.

There has been harsh criticism from world leaders for the apparent poisoning and sentencing of a political opponent of President for life Putin (Reuters). Vladimir Ashurkov of the Anti-Corruption Foundation sent US President Biden a list of wealthy Putin allies he believes should be sanctioned. He believes punishing Putin’s inner circle would be more effective than past measures (USA Today).