The Russian doctor in charge of treating Alexei Navalny after he was poisoned by nervous agent Novichok died suddenly at age 55, according to several reports.
Sergey Maximishin died of a heart attack after being taken to the hospital where he worked on Wednesday night due to an increase in his blood pressure, Life.ru said, quoting a Russian Health Ministry spokeswoman.
“The doctor actually died of a heart attack because he had a very stressful job and he really lost people who were close to him,” said spokeswoman Galina Nazarova.
“It’s just the human heart,” she told the outlet.
Maksimshin, who was the head of intensive care, died in the cardiology emergency room at his hospital in Omsk.
“He gave the local hospital 28 years, saved thousands of lives and left many talented students who will continue with his legacy,” said Omsk Region Health Minister Alexander Murakhovsky.
“Sergey Maximishin literally dragged out the” other side “to the most critical and hopeless patients with his hands.”
About 1,400 people were arrested, mostly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, during heated protests against Navalny, 44, on January 17, a fierce critic of the Kremlin who was arrested on his return from Germany to Russia, where his treatment against poisoning there was continued.
Navalny was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after authorities decided that his trip to Germany violated his parole.