European Nations Say Alexei Navalny Was Poisoned By The Kremlin With Dart Frog Toxin
LONDON (AP) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny The Kremlin poisoned a poison dart frog with a rare and deadly toxin found in its skin, five European countries said on Saturday.
The foreign ministries of Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body “unequivocally confirmed the presence of epibatidine.” They said it was a neurotoxin found in the skin of dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.
In the joint statement, the countries stated that “Russia has the means, motivation and opportunity to apply this poison.” They said they would report Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The announcement was made while Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, attended the ceremony. Munich Security Conference In Germany as the second anniversary of Navalny’s death approaches.
NavyFighting against official corruption and organizing mass anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s most implacable foe. dead In a penal colony in the Arctic on February 16, 2024. He was serving a 19-year prison sentence, which he believed was politically motivated.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, “Russia saw Navalny as a threat.” “By using this kind of poison, the Russian state has demonstrated the vile tools at its disposal and its great fear of political opposition.”
Navalny’s widow said last year that two independent laboratories found that her husband was poisoned shortly before he died. Navalnaya has repeatedly blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, but Russian officials have vehemently denied this.
Navalnaya said on Saturday that she had been “sure from day one” that her husband was poisoned, but now there was proof.
“Putin killed Alexei with a chemical weapon,” he wrote on social network X, calling Putin “a murderer who must be held accountable.”
Russian officials and politicians got sick after the walk and died of natural causes.
Epibatidine occurs naturally in dart frogs in the wild and can also be produced in a laboratory. European scientists suspect this is also the case with the substance used on Navalny. It acts on the body in a manner similar to nerve agents, causing shortness of breath, convulsions, seizures, slow heart rate, and ultimately death.
Navalny was the target of an earlier poisoning in 2020; He blamed the Kremlin for using the nerve agent in the attack, and the Kremlin has always denied involvement. His family and allies fought to have him flown to Germany for treatment and recovery. He returned to Russia five months later. arrested immediately and imprisoned last three years of your life.
Britain has accused Russia of repeatedly violating international bans on chemical and biological weapons. He accused the Kremlin of carrying out an attack targeting former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England, in 2018. nerve agent Novichok. A. British investigation concluded The attack “must have been authorized by President Putin at the highest level”.
The Kremlin has denied involvement.
