Text version
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60 Minutes rewind
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Alexi navalny is the leader of the
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opposition in Russia who has survived an
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assassination attempt by poisoning
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he's won in a long list of Vladimir
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Putin's critics who have been victims of
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Unsolved shootings suspicious suicides
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and poisonings
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we first met Alexi navalny three years
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ago when he was running for president
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against Putin
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now navalny is recuperating in Berlin
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where we went this past week after
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Germany granted a special permission to
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travel there despite coveted
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restrictions
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when we sat down with navali he told us
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he was on an airplane on August 20th
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when he began to feel strange and then
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very very sick
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I said to the flight attendant and I
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kind of shocked him with my statement
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well I was poisoned and I'm gonna die
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and I immediately lay down under his
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feet Alexi navalny was on a flight to
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Moscow from Siberia where he'd been
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campaigning against Putin's party in a
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local election when he collapsed with no
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pain but knowing he was dying actually
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every cell of your body just telling you
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that's buddy we are done one of the
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other passengers turned on his phone and
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captured navalny moaning in anguish
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[Applause]
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pilate made an emergency landing in
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ohmsk where Medics thinking navalny must
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be a drug addict administered the usual
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treatment for an overdose and rushed him
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to a local hospital where they said he
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wasn't poisoned but wouldn't let him
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leave for days well it was a big fight
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and they thought that after 48 Hours
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these these poisons would be untraceable
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and they just keep me there until this
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48 hours will be gone navalny is under
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constant surveillance his wife Yulia
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says government agents were at the
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hospital controlling access to her
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husband and she believes calling the
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shots at the time navalny was in a coma
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unaware that his wife Yulia was waging a
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public campaign to encourage Western
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diplomatic pressure and did you write a
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letter to Putin yeah I did it Dear Mr
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Putin free my husband I wrote like I
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insist that he should do it I demand you
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free my husband yeah it was a online
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campaign let him out and Putin thought
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it would be safe for him uh just let me
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out after 48 hours so after 48 Hours the
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Russian government allowed him to be
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flown by air ambulance to a hospital in
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Berlin known for its experience with
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victims of poison attacks and I gather
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they suspected poison right away
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uh yes of course meanwhile his team in
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Siberia searched his hotel room
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collecting things navalny may have
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touched like this water bottle which the
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doctors in Berlin sent along with a
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blood sample to a German military lab to
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see exactly what the poison was and the
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answer was novichuk they discovered
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another chalk this nerve agent in my
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blood inside of body on my body and all
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this bottle from the hotel so that's why
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we now we know that I was poisoned in
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the hotel because I uh well it's again
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it's just a pure speculation because no
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one knows what what happened exactly but
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I think that when I was maybe put some
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clothes with these with this poison on
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me I touch it with the hand and then I
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sip from the bottle so this Nerf agent
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was not inside of a bottle but on the
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bottle Nova chalk is a highly toxic
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nerve agent said to be 10 times more
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potent than sarin gas labs in France and
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Sweden corroborated the finding there's
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no doubt it was military-grade novichok
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it's maybe it's the most toxic
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agents invented by the humans so it's
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new type of novichok which prove that
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unfortunately Putin have a developing
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new program of this chemical weapon
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which is forbidden the Russians have
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said that they destroyed all these
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chemical weapons that's why actually
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they deny everything because it means
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that they still have this Navy choke so
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it means they're not just violating with
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the keeping it they are continue to
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improve it and there's no doubt that
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Russia is the only place that where that
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could have come from this is absolutely
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correct it's a banned substance
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I think for Putin why he's using this
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chemical weapon one to do both
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kill me and you know terrify others it's
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something really scary with the people
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just drop dead without there are no guns
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there are no shots and in a couple of
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hours you will be dead and without any
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traces on your body it's something
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terrifying and Putin is enjoying it you
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have said you think that that Mr Putin's
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responsible I don't think I'm sure that
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he's responsible Putin's spokesman
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Dimitri peskov says the charge is
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completely baseless and unacceptable but
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Angela Merkel of Germany and Emmanuel
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macron of France have persuaded the
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European Union to impose sanctions over
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this well all these leaders have signed
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on except Donald Trump
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yes I have noticed it is it important to
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you that he condemned this action so I
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think it's extremely important
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that everyone of course including and
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maybe in the first row president of
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United States to be very against using
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chemical weapon in the 21th century but
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why would Putin want to poison Alexei
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navalny when we first met navalny three
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years ago he was running against Putin
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for president he had made a name for
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himself by getting his hands on
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incriminating internal financial
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documents related to high-level
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officials and posting them on a Blog did
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these documents that you got prove
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corruption absolutely I work as a
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whistleblower and I'm not afraid to
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announce the names he says he found that
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the kremlin's Inner Circle was
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accumulating vast amounts of wealth and
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published pictures of multiple homes and
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Yachts he moved on to airing
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documentaries on YouTube with video of
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the official's lavish lifestyle and it's
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uh it's something very special about Mr
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Putin that he's crazy about money
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personal money about his family being
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rich his friends like all his people who
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was served here with him with the in the
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KGB all of them they are billionaires
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that's why fighting corruption means for
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him that he's fighting me
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you know I'm smiling because here you
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are you have survived the most potent
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nerve agent there is and you are as
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fiery and worked up about your about
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Putin and what's going on in this
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country as you were when I met you a
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couple of years ago well I'm galette I'm
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glad that I survived and his blog
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inflamed so much outrage in 2017 that
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tens of thousands of Russians took to
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the streets against Putin when navalny
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called for a second round of protests
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three months later he was arrested
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before he even left his apartment
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building he's been jailed so many times
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he's lost count he's been beaten had
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green dye with acids splashed in his
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face and now he can add poisoning to his
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resume and blame President Putin well
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how can you say that why wouldn't it be
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one of the oligarchs whom you've
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embarrassed by as you say exposing their
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corruption even for oligarch it's
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impossible to get this Navy chalk it's
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not something you can buy in the store
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even if you have a million of the
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billions of dollars maybe more important
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you cannot use it you will kill yourself
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and everyone around because it's very
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difficult to you know contain it yes and
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then this huge cover-up operation there
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is no criminal investigation so far if
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if Putin is not responsible why there is
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no investigation and look what they're
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doing right now like uh Putin with the
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conversation with the French President
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macron he said well navalny poisoned
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himself
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seriously Mr Putin told the president of
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France that you poisoned yourself yes it
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was just to you know annoy him the story
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will continue after this
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Putin is contending with rounds of
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protests in the Far Eastern part of the
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country with people taking to the
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streets for the past three months
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navalny thinks the attempt on his life
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is connected despite his controlling
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police judges courts media and
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everything still he's like he
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understands that he's surrounded by
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protest and it's increasing so that's
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why his they decided to
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you know export Extreme Measures
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this is what he looked like just a month
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ago soon after his doctors brought him
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out of an induced coma rail thin with a
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sickly pallor this photo was taken the
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first day he saw his children after
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being taken off a ventilator so you were
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in a coma and then you woke up and what
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happened after this coma I just jumped
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to the
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long period of kind of crazy
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hallucinations and several you know
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steps of realizing where I am who I am
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and I could not speak and I could not
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write how has this affected your family
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well it was it was a difficult situation
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but they stand it and including their
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children
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son is 12 and your daughter is in
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college right
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those are tough ages to realize that
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your father came close to being
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assassinated did they say to you
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pop dad you have to stop absolutely not
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no absolutely not my eye I'm very lucky
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man because I have all support from my
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family
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you'd almost have to at this point yeah
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navalny his wife his bodyguard and I
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went out for a walk in front of the
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Brandenburg gate in Berlin and a Phalanx
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of police showed up so you you certainly
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traveled with a lot of protection
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yes I have a lot of security he's under
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the protection of the German government
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because there's concern he could be the
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target of another poisoning and yet he
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said he's determined to return to Moscow
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in a couple of months as soon as he's a
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hundred percent and resume his work
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where he left off campaigning against
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Vladimir Putin you know you used to be
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known as the man who had no fear
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but what about your family do you ever
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think that you were putting them in
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danger
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that is the toughest part yes I don't
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feel any fear but children what is this
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kind of really horrible thought if they
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will try to use this Navy chalk
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somewhere around my apartment where my
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children is coming like you know this
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door or something but everyone can touch
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it but anyway we should fight these
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people because they will never stop they
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will poison someone else they will
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poison more people well how do you feel
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now
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are you back totally back you seem to be
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I still need some time to recover and
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I'm working on it but you do go to rehab
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do you go every day yes to learn from
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the Screech how to how to move how to do
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some things they're interesting that
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um I feel kind of a bit of wooden or a
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thin man like from The Wizard of Oz
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because the body lost all flexibility at
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all interesting how it's work I have no
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idea it's now it's
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difficult movies for me for example pick
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something from the ground what about the
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psychological of effect
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of having
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knowing that somebody tried to kill you
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came that close you know
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uh I think it's a it's a good thing it's
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very useful for politicians maybe facing
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that once because it's changing a bit so
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maybe ironically I became kind of more
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human after this facing that