Five European Nations Accuse Kremlin of Poisoning Alexei Navalny

LONDON (AP) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a deadly toxin derived from the skin of poison dart frogs, five European countries said Saturday.

The foreign ministries of Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said analysis of samples from Navalny, who died two years ago, “conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.” It is a toxin found in South American poison dart frogs and is not found naturally in Russia, they said.

The two countries said in a joint statement that “Russia had the means, the motivation and the opportunity to administer this poison.” They said they were reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for violating the Chemical Weapons Convention.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said “Russia views Navalny as a threat. By using this form of poison, the Russian state has demonstrated the despicable tools at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition.”

Navalny, who fought against official corruption and staged massive protests against the Kremlin as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died in the Arctic penal colony in February 2024. He was serving a 19-year sentence that he believed was politically motivated.

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said last year that two independent laboratories had discovered that her husband had been poisoned shortly before his death. Navalnaya has repeatedly blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, something Russian officials have vehemently denied.