Aleksei Navalny, Putin Critic in a Coma, Was Poisoned, German Doctors Say
New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/world/europe/aleksei-navalny-poison.html
The article is about Aleksei Navalny who is known to be one of Putin’s biggest critic. Navalny got poisoned and is now in a coma. After falling ill in an airplane, he got transferred to a hospital in Berlin, Germany where he was under round-the-clock guard. German doctors identified a poison called cholinesterase as the reason behind his sickness.
Navalny isn’t the first famous critic of the Russian president who suddenly falls ill. Russia is known for their history in attacks against political activists and is therefore called outlaw nation.
After giving this short background information, the two authors focus on the person Aleksei Navalny and what made him a threat for president Putin. Russia is still denying any kind of fault for Navalnys sudden illness. Even though Germany and Russia are on good terms, Germanies government requests an investigation and will be extra precautions to ensure the safety of Mr. Navalny.
The two authors dig even deeper in the history of Russia’s attempts to eliminate potential threats for president Putin and name several examples of people who experienced some sort of mysterious attack like Navalny in the past.
They also mention that it is not the first time for Navalny to be involved in an accident like this. In 2017, Mr. Navalny suffered a serious eye damage through an attack.
The authors do a really good job in creating background information for the reader. The article is build up quite nice and does a really good job in explaining the history of Russia as an outlaw state. I think it is a good choice for a headline because it tells what the whole story is about.
It is definitely news because it’s about prominence. Putin and are Navalny are quite famous and therefore interesting to a lot of people. A state president poisoning a political activist is news because it is something that usually doesn’t happen especially with other nations like Germany involved in the case.