Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said he believed Russia's intelligence services had poisoned him with a Novichok nerve agent because authorities saw him as a threat ahead of next year's parliamentary elections.
Olivia Chan reports.
Navalny makes first video appearance since coma
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has made his first video appearance since he was discharged from hospital over his suspected poisoning.
Navalny, speaking in a YouTube interview with a Russian blogger, says that he believes Russia's intelligence services poisoned him because authorities saw him as a threat ahead of next year's parliamentary elections.
He said his recovery could take two months.
"My hands shake.
If I drink water out of the bottle, it'll be a bit of a sight if you see how I do it.
I'm getting better each day.
I'm working with a physiotherapist.
Today he started teaching me how to juggle, so in some time you'll see how I juggle, ride a unicycle, pull a rabbit out of a hat." The outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin emerged from a coma in early September after collapsing on a domestic flight in Siberia on August 20.
He was air-lifted to Germany for treatment.
German doctors say he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.
Navalny added that he did not know how the nerve agent got into his system, but that he could have touched something.
Germany, France and other Western countries have demanded an explanation from the Kremlin for Navalny's illness.
The Kremlin has rejected any suggestion that Putin or the Russian authorities were responsible for his condition.
