Navalny Poisoned with Dart Frog Toxin, European Nations Allege
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin derived from the skin of poison dart frogs, according to a joint statement released Saturday by the foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Analysis of samples taken from Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony on , “have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine,” the statement said. Epibatidine is a neurotoxin found in poison dart frogs native to South America and is not naturally occurring in Russia.
“Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison,” the five countries declared, adding that they are reporting Russia to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin and a leading figure in anti-Kremlin protests, died while serving a 19-year sentence he maintained was politically motivated. His death sparked international condemnation and renewed scrutiny of the Russian government’s treatment of its political opponents.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stated, “Russia saw Navalny as a threat. By using this form of poison, the Russian state demonstrated the despicable tools it has at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition.”
French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot echoed this sentiment, writing on social media that the poisoning demonstrates Putin’s willingness to use biological weapons against his own people to maintain power.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has consistently blamed Putin for her husband’s death. She stated last year that independent lab analyses confirmed he was poisoned shortly before his death, and on Saturday, she reiterated her conviction, stating she had been “certain from the first day” that her husband had been poisoned, “but now there is proof.”
“Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon,” Navalnaya wrote on X, calling Putin “a murderer” and demanding accountability.
Russian authorities maintain that Navalny died of natural causes after falling ill during a walk in the penal colony.
Epibatidine, according to European scientists, can be found naturally in dart frogs or manufactured in a laboratory – a possibility they suspect was the case in Navalny’s poisoning. The toxin affects the nervous system, causing symptoms like shortness of breath, convulsions, a slowed heart rate, and death.
What we have is not the first time Navalny has been targeted in a poisoning attack. In , he was poisoned with a nerve agent, an attack he attributed to the Kremlin, which denied any involvement. He received treatment in Germany before returning to Russia, where he was immediately arrested and imprisoned for the final three years of his life.
The U.K. Has previously accused Russia of violating international bans on chemical and biological weapons, citing the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England, with the nerve agent Novichok. A British inquiry concluded that the attack was likely authorized at the highest levels of the Russian government, including President Putin, a claim the Kremlin has denied.
Yulia Navalnaya attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, as the second anniversary of her husband’s death approaches.
