European Allies Say Navalny Was Poisoned By Dart Frog Toxin
London : Five European allies accused Russia on Saturday of using poison dart frog toxin to kill late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny while he was held in an Arctic penal colony two years ago; Moscow rejected this claim as propaganda.
Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said in a joint statement that analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body “unequivocally” confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in South American poison dart frogs and not found naturally in Russia.
The Russian government, which has repeatedly denied any responsibility for Navalny’s death, dismissed the latest claims as a “Western propaganda hoax”, according to the Russian state TASS news agency, while the Russian embassy in London said: “One has to ask what kind of person would believe this nonsense about a frog.”
Britain said in a statement on Saturday that the poisoning showed a “worrying pattern of behaviour”. The country held a public inquiry into the 2018 poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain. The investigation concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have ordered the Novichok nerve agent attack last year.
“When the test results are obtained and the formulas of the substances are announced, we will comment accordingly,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS. he said.
“Until then, all such claims were just propaganda aimed at diverting attention from the pressing problems of the West,” the news agency quoted him as saying. he said. The report also noted that Navalny was described as a blogger “officially designated as a terrorist and extremist in Russia.”
The British government refused to comment when questioned by Reuters about how samples were taken from Navalny’s body or where they were evaluated. Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper told reporters that “British scientists are working with our European partners in pursuit of the truth” about Navalny’s death.
SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF NAVALNY’S DEATH
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Russian opposition leader Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony in February 2024 after being convicted of extremism and other charges, all of which he denied.
His death was announced minutes before the opening of the Munich Security Conference in 2024. In response, the conference made a rare schedule change to allow his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, to address the conference, and she called for Putin to be held accountable.
“I was sure from day one that my husband was poisoned, but now there is evidence… I am grateful to the European states for their meticulous work over two years and for revealing the truth,” she said on social media while attending this year’s Munich conference on Saturday.
A Russian embassy spokesman said the move by European allies was “not a quest for justice, but a mockery of the dead”.
“Even after the death of the Russian citizen, London and European capitals cannot allow him to rest in peace, a fact that speaks volumes about those who instigated this campaign,” the spokesman added.
European allies said on Saturday, almost exactly two years after Navalny’s death, that Moscow had the means, incentive and opportunity to administer the poison because Navalny died in prison.
“Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes. However, given the toxicity of epibatidine and the reported symptoms, the cause of death was most likely poisoning,” the joint statement said.
His death was followed by commemorations and protests across Europe, where demonstrators in cities including London, Berlin, Vilnius and Rome condemned the Kremlin and demanded accountability.
The joint statement said the latest findings underline that Russia must be held accountable for its “repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and, in this case, the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention.”
