OREANDA-NEWS. Russian opposition politician Aleksey Navalny wrote on his Twitter page that he did indeed meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel while being treated in the Berlin clinic Charite. He commented on the publication of the magazine Spiegel, which reported of a secret meeting between Merkel and Navalny.

“There was a meeting, but you shouldn’t call it secret. It was rather a private meeting and conversation with the family. I am very grateful to Chancellor Merkel for visiting me at the hospital,” Navalny wrote.

Navalny’s confirmation came a few hours after the publication of Der Spiegel about Merkel’s secret visit to the clinic. “The Chancellor, in complete secrecy, visited the Russian opposition politician while he was lying in a hospital bed in the Berlin clinic Charite,” the article says. The publication did not name the date of visit, and Navalny did not specify it either.

According to Der Spiegel, with “such an unusual gesture” Merkel showed the solidarity of the German government with the Russian oppositionist. A visit to Navalny is another sign that Berlin wants to figure out what happened, the authors of the article add.