Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he is recovering his verbal and physical abilities at the German hospital where he is being treated for suspected nerve agent poisoning but that he at first felt despair over his condition.

Navalny, who is being treated in a Berlin hospital, was airlifted to Germany after falling ill on a Russian domestic flight last month.

Alexei Navalny's allies say the Kremlin is behind the illness of its most prominent critic, accusations that officials denounced as ``empty noise.''