Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who Germany says was poisoned by a weapons-grade Novichok nerve agent, is now out of a medically induced coma and being weaned off mechanical ventilation, the Berlin hospital treating him said yesterday. The 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner and one of President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics, fell ill on a domestic flight last month and was treated in a Siberian hospital before being evacuated to Berlin. "He is responding to verbal stimuli," Charite hospital said, reporting that the 44-year-old's condition "has improved". However, the hospital said it was too early to determine the impact of poisoning.