Opposition politician and Anti-Corruption Foundation creator Alexey Navalny was hospitalized early on Thursday, August 20, in critical condition. At the time this podcast was recorded, he was in a coma and breathing through a ventilator in Omsk, where his flight home to Moscow was forced to make an emergency landing when he became violently ill.

“The Naked Pravda” reviews what we know about Navalny’s situation and looks back at recent poisonings in Russia, as well as the muted police response in these cases, to get a sense of what he is up against. Meduza in English managing editor Kevin Rothrock discusses past attacks on Navalny as well as the alleged poisonings of Pyotr Verzilov, Sergey Mokhov, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Alexander Litvinenko, Viktor Yushchenko, and Anna Politkovskaya.

“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Fridays (or sometimes Saturdays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at kevin@meduza.io with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”

Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно

Poisoned in Russia: Alexey Navalny fights for his life as a deadly trend catches up to the country’s top oppositionist