During a chemical weapons convention, five European countries claimed Russia poisoned an opposition leader while in prison.
In a statement, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands reported that analysis of samples taken from Alexei Navalny’s body “conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.”
The statement went on to say, “only the Russian Government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia.”
Epibatidine is a toxin found in the skin of dart frogs in South America. It is not native to Russia.
The information was released during the Chemical Weapons Convention taking place currently in Munich. The five countries informed the Organization on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of Russia’s alleged breach.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the countries’ claims, according to state media outlet TASS.
“When the test results are available and the formulas for the substances are disclosed, we will comment accordingly,” Zakharova said. “Until then, all such assertions are merely propaganda aimed at diverting attention from pressing Western issues.”
Back in September, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, said that tests conducted in two foreign laboratories concluded he was poisoned before he died in custody. She said his supporters managed to move biological samples out of Russia, where they were analyzed in separate countries.
“These labs in two different countries reached the same conclusion: Alexei was killed. More specifically, he was poisoned,” Navalnaya said in a video posted on social media. She urged the laboratories to publish their findings, accusing them of withholding results for “political considerations.”
Navalny died in February 2024 while serving a 19-year sentence in an Arctic penal colony. Russian officials said he became ill after a walk and later attributed his death to “sudden death syndrome.” State investigators later said his death was caused by arrhythmia.
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