(Read the full article on themoscowtimes.com)

The former head doctor at the Siberian hospital which first treated Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny who denied his poisoning has been found alive following a three-day search after he missing on a hunting trip, authorities said Monday.

Alexander Murakhovsky was chief doctor at Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1, which admitted Navalny when he fell gravely ill on an Aug. 20, 2020, flight that was forced to make an emergency landing. The governor of the Omsk region 2,200 kilometers east of Moscow later promoted Murakhovsky, 49, to the post of regional health minister last fall, the Moscow Times reported.

Omsk regional police said Murakhovsky had not been seen since leaving a hunting base in a forest near the Bolesheukovsky district village of Pospelovo on Friday, the newspaper said.

Murakhovsky was found after he emerged from the forest near the village of Basliy and sought out help from villagers, the RBC news website cited the regional government’s press service as saying. He was taken to the district hospital for a health examination, the newspaper cited the authorities as saying.

Murakhovsky’s wife confirmed to the independent Dozhd broadcaster that he has been found and that she spoke to him on the phone, adding that he doesn’t yet understand the scale of the search for him. Omsk police, National Guard officers, local residents and search parties had resumed search operations early Monday morning after an overnight pause. Police said that Murakhovsky’s ATV had been found 6.5 kilometers from the hunting base, the Moscow Times said.

The Kremlin rejects claims that it was behind Navalny’s poisoning and has cast doubt on whether he was poisoned at all.