On 10 September, news media reported the police protection outside the Charite hospital had been stepped up, that Navalny was able to speak again, but Navalny's spokeswoman described reports of his quick recuperation as "exaggerated". On 14 September, the Charité hospital said that Navalny was taken off the ventilator and that he is able to get out of bed. For the first time, the hospital said that it published the statement following consultations "with the patient and his wife", rather than his wife only. On 15 September, Navalny's spokeswoman said that Navalny would return to Russia. Navalny also posted a picture from his hospital bed on social media for the first time since his poisoning. The Kremlin ruled out a meeting between Navalny and Putin. On 22 September, the doctors at the Charité hospital declared him well enough to be discharged from in-patient care. While recovering after discharge from the Charité hospital, Navalny stated "I assert that Putin was behind the crime, and I have no other explanation for what happened. Only three people can give orders to put into action 'active measures' and use Novichok ... [but] FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, foreign intelligence service head Sergey Naryshkin and the director of GRU cannot make such a decision without Putin's orders." Investigation Initial steps taken by Navalny's team members Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) employees in Tomsk, having learned about the poisoning, told the administration of the hotel where Navalny had stayed that he could have been poisoned with "something from the minibar" and received permission to inspect his room. The inspection was carried out in the presence of a hotel administrator and a lawyer, and was filmed. Navalny's associates took his personal belongings from the room, including several plastic water bottles. The head of the FBK investigation department, Maria Pevchikh, subsequently took these bottles to Germany on the same medical plane on which Navalny himself was transported, and handed them over to German specialists. Although the Navalny's team member maintained control of the bottle, there is no official chain of custody for it. On the same day, 20th of August, 2020, Navalny's lawyers appealed to the Investigative Committee of Russia and demanded for the initiation of a criminal case in accordance with the Articles 30, 105, and 227 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Investigation by German authorities Upon Navalny's admission to Charité hospital intensive care unit, toxicological analysis