London, United Kingdom – Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands announced in a joint statement that the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died as a result of poisoning with a deadly substance in a Russian prison two years ago. They based this conclusion on laboratory analysis of samples taken from his remains.
rare toxic substance
The statement said that the test results “unequivocally” confirmed the presence of epatidine, a toxin extracted from poison dart frogs in South America, which does not occur naturally in Russia. The five countries explained that they had informed the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) of what they described as Moscow’s violation of the international Chemical Weapons Convention.
Navalny died in February 2024 while in detention in an Arctic prison, after being convicted on charges related to extremism, charges he consistently denied. Since his death, his team and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, have accused the Kremlin of being responsible for his murder. The Russian government, for its part, has denied any involvement.
Calls for accountability
The joint statement indicated that Russia “had the means, the motive, and the opportunity” to poison him, calling for accountability for what it described as “repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, as well as the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.”
In a related development, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the new findings “highlight the Kremlin’s brutal plot to silence him,” following her meeting with Navalny’s widow on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
These developments come amid escalating tensions between Moscow and European capitals, with Western calls for tougher diplomatic and legal measures against Russia.
