Moscow [Russia], February 16 (HBTV): Five European states have accused the Russian government of poisoning and killing opposition leader Alexey Navalny with a rare toxin allegedly derived from South American dart frogs, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the foreign ministries of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said laboratory analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body ‘conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine’, a toxin naturally found in poison dart frogs.
The statement said there was no ‘innocent explanation’ for the chemical’s presence and asserted that Moscow had the ‘means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison.’
‘The UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands are confident that Alexey Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin,’ the statement said.
Russian authorities have denied the allegations. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said she would comment once the test results are publicly disclosed, which has not yet occurred.
Navalny, a critic of President Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic penal colony on February 16, 2024, while serving a 19-year sentence that he had described as politically motivated. European governments said their findings indicate his death was the result of deliberate poisoning rather than natural causes.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper met Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, at the Munich conference and said the new evidence sheds light on what she described as ‘the Kremlin’s barbaric plot to silence his voice.’
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on X that the alleged poisoning demonstrated that ‘Vladimir Putin is prepared to use biological weapons against his own people in order to remain in power.’
The governments said they would report Russia to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for allegedly breaching the Chemical Weapons Convention, a step that could lead to further diplomatic tensions.
At the time of Navalny’s death in 2024, Russian authorities said he became ill after a walk and maintained that he died of natural causes. European officials now contend that the presence of epibatidine, which can cause respiratory failure, convulsions and cardiac arrest, contradicts that explanation.
As the Munich Security Conference continues, the dispute over Navalny’s death is expected to further strain relations between Russia and Western countries amid existing tensions over Ukraine, security cooperation and human rights.
(ANI)