Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands have stated that they are convinced that Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was poisoned two years ago in a penal colony in the Arctic.
According to Modern.az, it was noted in a joint statement by the five countries that analyses of samples taken from Navalny's p “definitively” confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a substance found in poisonous frogs in South America, in his organism. It was stated that this toxin does not naturally occur in Russia.
According to the statement, the matter has been submitted to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The document notes that Russia has violated the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and it is emphasized that Moscow should be held accountable. Concern was also expressed that Russia has not destroyed all its chemical weapons stockpiles.
Navalny died in February 2024 in a prison in the Arctic. He had been convicted of extremism and other charges, but he rejected the accusations. His team and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering the murder. The Russian government, however, has repeatedly denied any responsibility for Navalny's death.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stated in a declaration after meeting Navalny's widow at the Munich Security Conference that the findings “expose the Kremlin's plan to silence him”.
