The Russian doctor who was among the first physicians who treated Alexei Navalny after his poisoning has been found "in a normal condition" after disappearing for three days.
Murakhovsky Appears in Healthy Condition
Three days after his disappearance while on a hunt, Alexander Murakhovsky reappeared 32km from the hunting base that he was last seen in Friday.
According to the Omsk government, Murakhovsky was "in a normal condition" when he turned up at the hunting base of Balsy Monday. He was first reported missing Saturday after leaving a hunting base on an all-terrain vehicle.
Earlier Monday, Murakhovsky's all-terrain vehicle was found 6.5km from the hunting base. At that time, the Omsk government said aerial search drones and a helicopter were deployed in the search.
Murakhovsky was chief of the Omsk emergency hospital where incarcerated Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was rushed to after he was poisoned in August.
Murakhovsky Refuses to Tell His Survival Story
After he was found safe and healthy, Murakhovsky reportedly told a Moscow-based news site that "everything's normal, I feel good."
"I'll keep how I survived to myself," Murakhovsky was quoted to have said. However, a local investigative news site reported that the head of the Omsk regional health service slept in an abandoned railway car for one night.
The news site added that Murakhovsky was fortunate not to have caught the attention of bears living in the forest.
Despite Murakhovsky's survival, there have been conspiracy theories emerging, linking his disappearance to the death of a doctor from the same Omsk hospital that Navalny got his first-aid treatment.
The Death of Sergei Maximishin
Several days after Navalny was sentenced in February to two years and eight months behind bars, one of the doctors who treated him alongside Murakhovsky, Sergei Maximishin, passed away.
The Omsk emergency hospital said Maximishin died "suddenly" but no cause of death was provided.
Leonid Volkov, Navalny's chief of staff, said at the time of Maximishin's passing, that the doctor "knew more than anyone else" about Navalny's true health condition.
After Murakhovsky left the Omsk emergency hospital to become the region's health chief, Navalny said the former chief physician at the clinic lied about his condition.
Murakhovsky told the public that instead of being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, Navalny suffered from hypoglycaemia and pancreatitis.
Bellingcat: At Least 8 Men Involved
Navalny has insisted that he was poisoned as the Russian government tried to take him out for his criticism of the Kremlin under President Vladimir Putin.
In an investigation by British investigative journalism website Bellingcat in December, at least eight operatives under the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) were identified.
Bellingcat found that the operatives team tailed Navalny on more than 30 of his trips, including his travel to the city of Tomsk, where the poisoning is said to have occurred.
The investigation named the following as members of the tailing team: medical doctor Alexey Alexandrov, medical doctor Ivan Osipov, Vladimir Panyaev, military scientist Col. Stanislav Makshakov, former surgeon Oleg Tayakin, Konstantin Kudryavstev, Mikhail Shvets and Alexey Krivoschekov.
After getting his treatment in Omsk, Navalny was transferred to a Germany hospital where doctors confirmed he was poisoned. Murakhovsky tried to block the transfer to no avail.
