'Poisoned' critic Vladimir Kara-Murza leaves Russia for treatment Published duration 19 February 2017

image copyright Getty Images image caption Vladimir Kara-Murza, pictured with Boris Nemstov in 2014, is well enough to leave Russia for treatment

An outspoken Kremlin critic who fell into a coma two years after a suspected poisoning has left Russia for treatment abroad.

Journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who works for pro-democracy group Open Russia, became ill earlier this month.

He has now recovered enough to leave the country to seek further treatment, his lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said on Facebook on Sunday.

The activist nearly died when he suffered sudden kidney failure in 2015.

Mr Kara-Murza, a friend of opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in February 2015, fell into a coma for a week, with tests revealing he had ingested a poisonous substance.

media caption Evgenia Kara Murza: "It seems like it is (a deliberate poisoning)"

It is unclear what prompted the latest collapse.

However, Mr Prokhorov said he was leaving Russia on Sunday "to go through rehabilitation treatment after his second acute poisoning".

He added: "The diagnosis in his hospital discharge report is still the same: 'toxic influence of an unknown substance'."