Alexei Navalny’s health puts Vladimir Putin’s government on the ropes

A notorious group of Russian political leaders told President Vladimir Putin that he “has personal responsibility for the survival” of Alexei Navalny, since the life of the Kremlin critic “hangs in the balance” in prison.

Almost a dozen lawmakers signed and published an open letter to the Russian leader as doctors warn that Navalny’s health is failing amid a hunger strike.

Vladimir Putin’s most prominent rival, 44, was jailed in February and serving two and a half years on charges of embezzlement in a penal colony in the city of Pokrov, about 60 miles east of Moscow.

“The health of political prisoner Alexei Navalny threatens his life,” said the letter, signed by 11 politicians from various regional parliaments, according to CNN.

The politicians demanded that an independent doctor be allowed to visit Navalny immediately, as they have been barred from entering the penal colony.

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