24 February 2024 , 19:14
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A survivor of the Salisbury Novichok attacks today sends a chilling warning to the widow of Vladimir Putin ’s political rival Alexei Navalny.
Charlie Rowley – who was left partly paralysed by the deadly nerve agent that killed his partner Dawn Sturgess in 2018 – says he fears Yulia Navalnaya “could be the next victim of this evil poison” – and says she must “watch her back”.
He speaks out after the Russian opposition leader’s wife released a video insisting Novichok had been used to murder her jailed husband. She said: “My husband could not be broken. And that’s exactly why Putin killed him.”
Today Charlie, 50, today reveals how Navalny’s death 10 days ago has sent him spiralling back into PTSD and his “worst nightmares”. He says: “I’ll never meet Yulia, but I feel linked to her. We know how Putin wrecks lives. He has destroyed ours. She was very brave to speak out. But I want to warn her to watch her back. Be very careful or she could be next.”
Charlie, who is convinced he was followed by Russian agents after his release from hospital, says: “I’m still in fear myself. I could say nasty words about Putin but I don’t want to.” He says he feels catapulted back to the terrifying attacks in 2018. In March of that year ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found slumped on a park bench in Salisbury after being poisoned by Novichok.
Putin accused of surrounding himself with same 'actors' at series of events
Novichok victim Charlie Rowley (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)Both survived their fight for life and now live under protection, believed to be in the UK.
Four month months later Charlie and Dawn were poisoned by chance when he found a perfume bottle containing Novichok that had been discarded by the two suspected Russian assassins who later fled back to Moscow. Both he and Dawn tried some on their skin before falling ill and being rushed to hospital. Charlie regained consciousness and was released 10 days later, Dawn, 44, died on July 8.
“It was a bodge job that led to the death of Dawn and almost the death of me,” says Charlie. He suffered multiple strokes and nerve damage as well as damage to his eyesight.
“From unfortunate experience, I’m sure Alexei Navalny did suffer. It would have been his worst nightmare. The nurses told me when I was in intensive care I kept having seizures and was flapping around.
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (AFP via Getty Images)“I was in a pretty bad state. What memory I do have is that I thought I was in hell. I thought they were sticking gallons of water down my throat. I think it was a tube being pushed down to get me to breathe. A nurse later told me I nearly died several times apparently. It has left me with all kinds of problems. I have poor eyesight, I can’t catch my breath and pins and needles in my feet make it hard to walk. I use a mobility scooter.”
And now he says all his thoughts are with Yulia, 47, as his horrific memories come flooding back. “Shortly after I moved to where I live now I was in fear. I would hear Russian voices walking down the road. I thought ‘am I being followed? That is why I urge Yulia to be watchful.”
“My thoughts go out to her. My message is: “Be careful. Dawn and I are proof that anybody could fall victim to this. It proves that Putin and his men have no conscience.”
Yesterday supporters of Navalny, 47, said his body has been returned to his mother. It comes after she had reportedly been told to agree to a “secret” burial, or else he would be buried at the prison colony where he died. In a post on X, Navalny’s spokesperson thanked everybody who had demanded the return of his body.