Five European nations say Alexei Navalny was poisoned with dart frog toxin, blame Russia

Five European countries said Saturday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a deadly toxin derived from dart frog skin, and they accused the Russian government of being responsible for the attack, as reported by Reuters.

“The foreign ministries of the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said analysis of samples from Navalny, who died two years ago, “have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine. It is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America that is not found naturally in Russia,” they said.

The countries said in a joint statement that “Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison.” They said they were reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

UK PM Keir Starmer said in a post on X, "Alexei Navalny displayed huge courage in the face of tyranny. His determination to expose the truth has left an enduring legacy, and my thoughts are with his family today."

I am doing whatever it takes to defend our people, our values and our way of life from the threat of Russia and Putin’s murderous intent, he added.

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.”

Alexei Navalny, who built his profile by exposing alleged corruption and organising large anti-Kremlin demonstrations as the most prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, died in February 2024 at an Arctic penal colony. He had been serving a 19-year prison sentence that he said was politically driven, as reported by Reuters.

His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, stated last year that two independent laboratories concluded he had been poisoned shortly before his death. She has repeatedly held Putin responsible—an accusation Russian officials strongly reject.

Authorities in Russia, however, said Navalny fell ill after taking a walk and died of natural causes.

In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent attack he blamed on the Kremlin, which always denied involvement. His family and allies fought to have him flown to Germany for treatment and recovery. Five months later, he returned to Russia, where he was immediately arrested and imprisoned for the last three years of his life, Reuters reported.

(With inputs from Reuters)