POISONED Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s condition has improved, allowing doctors to take him out of an induced coma, the German hospital treating him has said.

Navalny, a high-profile critic of President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany last month after falling ill on August 20 on a domestic flight in Russia.

German chemical weapons experts say tests show the 44-year-old was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent, prompting the German government last week to demand that Russia investigate the case.

“The patient has been removed from his medically induced coma and is being weaned off mechanical ventilation,” Berlin’s Charite hospital said in a statement.

“He is responding to verbal stimuli. It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning.”

It added that the decision to release details on his condition was made in consultation with Navalny’s wife. He had been in an induced coma since he was flown to Germany on August 22 for treatment.

News of his gradual recovery came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office indicated that she might be willing to rethink the fate of a controversial German-Russian gas pipeline project – a sign of Berlin’s growing frustration over Moscow’s stonewalling about the case. German authorities said last week that tests showed “proof without doubt” that Navalny was poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group. British authorities identified Novichok as the poison used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in 2018.

Russia has denied that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning Navalny and accused Germany of failing to provide evidence that it requested in late August.