Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Killed Using Poison from South American Dart Frog, Foreign Offices Allege

NEED TO KNOW

• Alexei Navalny died of poison epibatidine, which comes from a dart frog not native to Russia, according to a joint press release from five European governments

• Russia “had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him,” the Feb. 14 press release from the countries alleged

• Nalany, a longtime critic and political opponent of Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024

Two years after Alexei Navalny‘s sudden death, several foreign governments are “confident” he died not of natural causes, but from poison.

Nalany, a longtime critic and political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024, at the age of 47.

On Saturday, Feb. 14, the U.K. Foreign Office alleged in a joint press release with four other European countries that “poisoning was highly likely the cause of his death.”

“The U.K., Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin,” stated the press release from the U.K. Foreign Office and Yvette Cooper, the country’s Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.

The Foreign Office said that epibatidine was found in samples taken from the late Russian opposition leader. It added that the use of the neurotoxin is a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

“Epibatidine is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America. It is not found naturally in Russia,” the release said. “Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes. But given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause of his death.”

The Foreign Office also alleged that because Navalny died behind bars — he was serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that many viewed as politically motivated — Russia “had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him.”

It is not clear how exactly the toxin would have allegedly been administered to the then-prisoner.

A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday, Feb. 14.

“Russia’s repeated disregard for international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention is clear,” the Foreign Office said.

Citing other alleged instances of Russia’s use of nerve agent novichok, the government office added, “These latest findings once again underline the need to hold Russia accountable for its repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and, in this instance, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.”

The U.K. has informed the Organization on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of Russia’s alleged breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention, according to the Feb. 14 release.

“We are further concerned that Russia did not destroy all of its chemical weapons,” the Foreign Office concluded. “We and our partners will make use of all policy levers at our disposal to continue to hold Russia to account.”

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Nalany’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who has long maintained that her husband was killed by poisoning, released a statement after the press release went public.

“I was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon,” Navalnaya alleged, in part, in an X post translated from Russian.

“I am grateful to the European states for the meticulous work they carried out over two years and for uncovering the truth,” the widow of the late opposition leader continued.

“Vladimir Putin is a murderer,” she further alleged. “He must be held accountable for all his crimes.”

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