- Five European countries accused Russia of poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a rare toxin
- The toxin epibatidine found in Navalny is from South American poison dart frogs, not native to Russia
- Navalny's widow claimed his 2024 Arctic prison death was a proven murder by Putin
Five European countries, including the UK, France, and Germany, accused Russia of "poisoning" opposition leader and staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin -- Alexei Navalny. The foreign ministries of the countries have confirmed the presence of "epibatidine", which is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.
"We know the Russian state now used this lethal toxin to target Navalny in fear of his opposition," the UK's foreign office said in a statement.
In a joint statement, the countries - UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands - said that "Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison," adding that they were reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, "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."
Navalny's Widow's Statement
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, claimed on Saturday that the "murder" of her husband in an Arctic prison in 2024 is a "science-proven fact". On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Navalnaya said, "Two years ago I came on stage here and said that it was Vladimir Putin who killed my husband. I was, of course, certain that it was a murder... but back then it was just words. But today these words have become science-proven facts."
Who Was Alexei Navalny?
Navalny staged massive anti-Kremlin protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin and fought against corruption. He was serving a 19-year sentence, which he believed was politically motivated. He died in the Arctic penal colony in February 2024. However, Russian authorities claimed that he was ill after taking a walk and died from natural causes.
Navalny had earlier been poisoned in 2020, which he blamed on the Kremlin. He was flown to Germany for treatment, but five months later when he came back to Russia, he was immediately arrested and imprisoned.
