The doctor in charge of treating Russian dissident Alexei Navalny after he was poisoned with Novichok has died suddenly and unexpectedly, according to multiple media reports. Sergey Maximishin, aged 55, died of heart attack after being transferred to the same hospital where he had treated Navalny after he fell seriously ill on a plane which was forced to make an emergency landing.
Maximishin's death comes just days after Navalny was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison amid widespread protests in Russia demanding his release. Needless to say, despite the hospital issuing a statement mentioning that Maximishin died of a sudden heart attack, mystery shrouds his death, more so because Kremlin's typical nature of maintaining secrecy.
Unexpected Timing
Maximishin died of a massive heart attack after being taken to the Omsk hospital on Wednesday night after his blood pressure shot, Life.ru reported, citing a Russian Health Ministry spokeswoman. Omsk is the same hospital where Maximishin was the deputy chief physician and had treated Navalny in the emergency ward.
He was transferred to the intensive care unit but could not be revived. "With regret, we inform you that...the deputy chief physician for anesthesiology and resuscitation of the emergency hospital №1, assistant of the department of Omsk State Medical University, PhD of medical sciences Maksimishin Sergey Valentinovich suddenly passed away," the hospital said in a statement.
However, the statement didn't mention the cause of the death. Moreover, it is believed that Maksimishin hadn't contracted Covid-19. According to a report in Daily Mail, one of his colleagues Maria Morozova, who saw him this week said that the death was "very unexpected."
However, the hospital has been all praise for the medic. "Sergey Maximishin literally dragged out from "the other side" even the most critical, hopeless patients with his hands." Galina Nazarova, spokeswoman for Omsk health ministry, said that there was "no special background" to the doctor's death.
Death Raises Many Questions
Maximishin's death raises quite a few questions although local media has been claiming that there is no foul play and the death was quite natural. According to a report in Lifeshot, Maximishin was quite critical when he was brought to the hospital and his the blood pressure was "over 250". "They managed to knock down the blood pressure, but the doctor's heart still could not stand it," the outlet reported.
Maximishin had initially treated Navalny after he was admitted to the acute poisoning unit of Omsk emergency hospital on August 20, after falling ill from exposure to military-grade Novichok on a plane heading from Siberia to Moscow.
Navalny blames his poisoning on Russian security services and on President Vladimir Putin. Although Maximishin didn't give any press briefing at that time, he was among the first along with Kremlin to deny that Navalny showed any signs of nerve agent poisoning.
Maximishin's death comes just two days after Navalny was sentenced to prison term after authorities ruled that his trip to Germany violated his parole. His sentencing has since sparked protests across Russia with more than 1,400 people being arrested. Naturally, Maximishin's untimely death will definitely raise a few eyebrows.
