Leak to newspaper is apparently intended to show Navalny was not poisoned in city of Tomsk

A Russian newspaper has alleged there was extensive government surveillance of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny during a trip to Siberia before he collapsed from a suspected poisoning on Thursday.

Navalny’s press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, had complained of being followed during the trip, calling the police surveillance “absolutely obvious” during a stopover in the city of Novosibirsk. The next leg in the city of Tomsk was “relatively calm”, she said, until Navalny fell ill during a return flight to Moscow on Thursday. He was transferred to Berlin’s Charite hospital on Saturday for treatment.

Navalny's doctor says he has been poisoned and is in a coma. The Russian opposition activist collapsed during a flight to Moscow, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing at Omsk airport, where Navalny was put on to a stretcher and taken to hospital. 

• Russian activist Alexei Navalny in coma after suspected poisoning

Opposition politician may have been poisoned by toxic substance in his tea, says press secretary

The Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny is unconscious in hospital after allegedly being poisoned with a toxic substance in his tea, according to his press secretary Kira Yarmish.

A doctor at the hospital said that Navalny was in a “serious condition” but did not specify the cause. The opposition activist is currently on a ventilator.