MOSCOW: Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Friday that he would begin gradually ending a hunger strike that supporters said had placed him at serious risk of death.
“Taking into account the progress and all the circumstances, I am beginning to go off my hunger strike,” he said in an instagram post.
The fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin began the hunger strike in prison on March 31 to demand proper medical care for leg and back pain.
In the Instagram post, Navalny said he still demanded that he be seen by a doctor of his own choosing, adding that he was losing feeling in parts of his legs and arms.
He said, however, that he had been seen twice by civilian doctors. He added it would take him 24 days to gradually end the hunger strike and thanked the “good people” in Russia and around the world for their support.