German medical team refutes claims Navalny too sick to fly following suspected poisoning

German doctors have examined Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in a coma in a Siberian hospital, and say he is fit enough to be flown to Berlin for treatment on a special medical plane, a charity representative says.

Film producer Jaka Bizilj, who represents a charity organizing the flight, told The Associated Press that he had been in touch with the German medical team that examined him, a doctor and two medical assistants who specialize in such transports, and that they had determined it would be safe to bring Navalny to Berlin.

"I understand he's still unconscious, but they're used to such special assignments, and they say very clearly he can fly and they want to fly him," said Bizilj of the German organization, Cinema For Peace.

"I've spoken with the doctors, and they are just now writing the medical report, which we're going to get very soon, but it's absolutely without a question that he is able to fly."

Navalny was admitted to an intensive care unit in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday, following a suspected poisoning that his supporters believe was engineered by the Kremlin.

Earlier Friday, allies of the stricken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin accused authorities of thwarting his medical evacuation to Germany, saying the decision had placed his life in mortal danger because the Siberian hospital treating him was under-equipped.

Russian doctors treating him in Omsk said his condition had improved a little overnight but that his life was still in danger.

Anatoly Kalinichenko, the deputy head doctor at the hospital looking after him, said tests had so far found no traces of poison.

Kalinichenko said the hospital had a full diagnosis but could not disclose it yet. He said doctors did not believe Navalny had been poisoned.

Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, and spokesperson Kira Yarmysh, who want to fly Navalny to Germany for medical treatment, disputed this and criticized the hospital after it said that moving him would put his life at risk because he was still in a coma and his condition unstable.

"The ban on transporting Navalny is an attempt on his life being carried out right now by doctors and the deceitful authorities that have authorized it," Yarmysh wrote on Twitter.

She said doctors had previously consented to his being moved, but then had withheld that consent at the last minute.

WATCH | Russian opposition leader still in Siberian hospital with mystery illness:

"This decision, of course, was not made by them, but by the Kremlin," said Yarmysh.

Yarmysh appealed to Putin in a letter on Friday to allow Navalny to be transported from a hospital in Siberia to Germany to receive medical assistance.

The letter, which was published on social media, was sent to the Kremlin directly, a Navalny ally said.

The Russian government said Thursday that medical authorities would promptly consider any request to move him to a European clinic and were being open about his medical condition.

The comments came as an air ambulance sent by the Berlin-based Cinema for Peace Foundation, a non-profit organization, landed in Omsk with the intention of flying him to Germany if possible.

Alexander Murakhovsky, the hospital's head doctor, told reporters that many legal questions would need to be resolved before Navalny could be handed over to European doctors.

He said top doctors had been flown in from Moscow to treat Navalny who were no worse than their European counterparts. He said test results would be available within two days.

Navalny's team cited a police officer as saying a highly dangerous substance had been identified in his body that posed a risk to everyone around him and that they should wear protective suits. Reuters could not independently confirm that information.

Navalny's team said it believed authorities wanted to stall for time so that any trace of what poisoned him would disappear.

French junior European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Friday he shared concerns and fears about Navalny's fate and reiterated that France was ready to help him if necessary.