UK considers new Russia sanctions after Navalny frog toxin finding | Foreign policy
Yvette Cooper claimed that Britain was working on new sanctions against Moscow after it held the Kremlin responsible for the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The Foreign Office and four of Britain’s allies – Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands – said in a statement on Saturday that they had determined that Navalny’s death was most likely the result of poisoning using dart frog toxin arranged by the Russian state.
The Russian embassy in London denied Moscow was involved in Navalny’s death in a Siberian penal colony two years ago, calling the announcement an example of the “idiot of western storytellers”.
In a review of the BBC’s program with Laura Kuenssberg broadcast on Sunday, Cooper, the foreign secretary, said the accusation against Russia was “extremely serious” and the product of a two-year process of gathering evidence.
He said: “Only the Russian regime had the means, the motive and the opportunity to apply this poison while he was in a Russian prison.”
Analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body revealed the presence of a toxin called epibatidine produced by dart frogs in South America. Britain and its allies said Navalny could not have accidentally swallowed the poison because it is not found in Russia and is usually produced only by frogs in the wild.
Five European countries reported the Kremlin to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons after accusing Moscow of violating their conventions.
Cooper said the incident showed that “the dividend of the Cold War peace that we all believed in and hoped for has been lost, and we must be ready for Russia’s aggression against Europe to continue.”
He suggested that more sanctions may be coming. “We continue to look at coordinated actions, including increasing sanctions against the Russian regime. As you know, we are pursuing this as part of our response to the brutal occupation of Ukraine as we approach the fourth anniversary of the invasion.
“We believe that it is the partnerships we build abroad that make us stronger at home. We only maintain pressure on the Russian regime by acting together with our European allies and allies around the world.”
Noting that the government will continue to provide military support to Ukraine and remain alert against other different, hybrid threats, Cooper added: “The other thing I will say, especially regarding Alexei Navalny, one of the things he said was ‘tell the truth, spread the truth’ because this is the most dangerous weapon.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Washington had no reason to question the “disturbing” results of the five European allies.
“Obviously, we are aware of the report. It is a disturbing report. We are aware of the case of Mr. Navalny and we have absolutely… no reason to question it,” Rubio told reporters at a press conference in Bratislava during his visit to Slovakia.
When asked why the United States did not join the five countries that made a statement regarding the findings, Rubio said that this was their own effort. “These countries came to this conclusion and coordinated it. [It] It doesn’t mean we disagree with the outcome. We just, it wasn’t our effort. “Sometimes countries go out and do their own thing based on the intelligence they collect.”
He added: “We are not arguing or fighting with these countries about this. But this was their report and they put it out.”
The UK’s shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, has warned that the UK and other western nations face an “axis of authoritarianism” comprising Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips program before addressing the Munich Security Conference, the senior Conservative said the US remained a “natural ally” and partner of European powers.
A statement from the Russian embassy in London denied any involvement in Navalny’s death. The statement said: “There is no reason to trust such ‘findings’ of Western ‘experts’. As in the Skripal case, there are harsh accusations, media hysteria, zero evidence and a host of questions that the accusers would rather ignore. So what happened in the end: poison derived from the skin of a South American frog or novichok?”
“We have become accustomed to the obscurantism of Western storytellers. One has to ask what kind of people would believe this nonsense about the frog. But what is truly shocking is the method now preferred by Western politicians: necro-propaganda. This is 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.”
