Two years after Alexei Navalny’s death, Britain and several European partners say he was killed using a toxin linked to poison dart frogs, citing scientific tests on samples recovered from his body.
According to BBC, officials said the toxin epibatidine cannot be explained by natural or accidental causes.
It occurs naturally in certain South American frogs and is not known to exist in Russia, reinforcing suspicions it was deliberately administered.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, “Only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia.”
A coordinated declaration was issued by the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Cooper, who met Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya, added, “Russia saw Navalny as a threat. By using this form of poison the Russian state demonstrated the despicable tools it has at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition.”
Their joint statement said, “Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin to target Navalny during his imprisonment in a Russian penal colony in Siberia, and we hold it responsible for his death. Epibatidine can be found naturally in dart frogs in the wild in South America. Dart frogs in captivity do not produce this toxin and it is not found naturally in Russia. There is no innocent explanation for its presence in Navalny’s body.”
Britain has notified the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, alleging Russia may have breached international chemical weapons agreements.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Navalny was “killed for his fight in favour of a free and democratic Russia.”
Navalny died on 16 February 2024, aged 47, while imprisoned, following a 2020 Novichok poisoning.
After treatment in Germany, he was detained on returning to Russia.
Navalnaya responded, “I was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof. I am grateful to the European states for the meticulous work they carried out over two years and for uncovering the truth.”
The Kremlin has yet to respond.