KREMLIN critic Alexei Navalny mocked Vladimir Putin for suggesting he poisoned HIMSELF with Novichok as he checked out of a German hospital today.
Officials at Berlin's Charite Hospital – where the 44-year-old has been recovering since his brush with death – confirmed he had been discharged from their care.
The news came just as it was reported the Russian leader is alleged to have bizarrely claimed his main rival for power may have poisoned himself.
Putin made the claim during a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, reports Le Monde.
The Russian leader also described Navalny as an “internet troublemaker who has simulated illnesses in the past,” the newspaper said.
The Kremlin – which has denied Russia was responsible for Navalny’s illness – rubbished the reports from France.
However, courageous Navalny was today quick to poke fun at his political rival in the wake of the reports.
He posted on Instagram: "Putin told his French counterpart: Navalny might have swallowed this poison himself.’
"A good theory…..I believe it deserves a most thorough examination.
“I brewed Novichok in the kitchen. Sipped it quietly from a flask while on board the plane. Slipped into a coma.
“Before that, I agreed with my wife, friends and colleagues that if the Health Ministry insisted on me being taken for treatment to Germany, they should not agree to it under any circumstances.
“The final aim of my devious plan was to die in an Omsk hospital and end up in an Omsk mortuary.
“But Putin has outsmarted me. He is nobody's fool.
"As a result, I, like a fool, spent 18 days in a coma but failed to achieve what I wanted. The provocation has failed.”
Russian state officials today said Navalny was "free to return" to his homeland any time he wants.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told news agencies there were no obstacles stopping him going home.
"In terms of his return to Moscow, he is free to do it at any moment like any other Russian citizen," he said.
However, NATO officials have already warned Russia "will try again" to kill the outspoken politician.
Intelligence officials said that Navalny will be taking a huge risk if he heads back to Russia.
They warned that despite western countries calling for tougher sanctions against Russia, it won't stop Moscow from trying again.
Putin’s biggest domestic foe fell ill on a domestic flight in Siberia on August 20 and was airlifted to Berlin while still in a coma.
Laboratory tests in three countries have determined that he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.
He was discharged today after 32 days of treatment, including more than two weeks in a medically induced coma.
Navalny earlier on Wednesday posted the first photograph of himself out of the hospital.
Pictured on a bench in the woods, a visibly frail Mr Navalny said that the first thing he asked his family to do after leaving hospital was to “take me somewhere with trees.”
“That day has come – hurrah! – and doctors at the hospital have decided after 32 days that my recovery now requires a normal life instead of inpatient care,” the Russian politician wrote.
The hospital today revealed the courageous Russian may still not be in the clear.
“Based on the patient’s progress and current condition, the treating physicians believe that complete recovery is possible," it said in a statement.
“However, it remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning.
“The decision to make details of Mr. Navalny’s condition public was made in consultation with the patient and his wife.”
The statement said: “The patient’s condition had improved sufficiently for him to be discharged from acute inpatient care.”
It was not immediately clear if Navalny was retaining the police guard he has been under while in hospital.
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