Was Putin critic Alexei Navalny poisoned? Wife Yulia Navalnaya cites foreign lab tests as proof

More than a year after Vladimir Putin's critic Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison, his wife Yulia Navalnaya has claimed that the foreign laboratory tests on biological samples obtained from her husband showed that he was poisoned, a charge that the Kremlin has denied.

In a video she posted on social media, Yulia said, “Laboratories in two countries came to the conclusion that Alexei was killed. Specifically: poisoned.”

In a statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no knowledge of Yulia Navalnaya’s allegations that Alexei Navalny was poisoned while in prison.

Alexei Navalny, 47, died on February 16, 2024, in a Russian prison in the Arctic Circle under mysterious circumstances, depriving the opposition of its most charismatic and popular leader.

The charismatic anti-corruption campaigner had rallied hundreds of thousands across Russia in anti-Kremlin protests as he exposed the alleged ill-gotten gains of Putin's inner circle.

His wife, Yulia, and other supporters had then claimed that Alexei Navalny was murdered. Moscow has never offered a convincing explanation for his death, with prison authorities claiming Navalny suddenly fell ill while walking in the yard.

Incidentally, he was also moved to the Arctic Circle prison just days before his death. Also Read | Alexei Navalny death: Over 400 arrested as Russia cracks down against supporters of Vladimir Putin critic

Before his burial, Yulia Navalnaya said allies had “managed to obtain and safely transfer Alexei’s biological samples abroad.”

She did not divulge details of what samples were obtained nor the results of the analysis, but she urged the labs to independently release their results and to specify which poison they believe was used.

Navalnaya also shared unverified photos, which she claimed showed her husband’s prison cell after his body was taken away, with vomit on the floor, and cited prison officials’ testimony that he had been convulsing before his death.

Navalny was previously poisoned with a nerve agent of the Novichok type in 2020 while campaigning in Siberia and flown to Germany on an emergency evacuation flight, where he spent months recovering.

Jailed upon his return to Russia in January 2021, he was convicted on a series of charges, including "extremism".