Alexei Navalny died after being poisoned with dart frog toxin by Russia, UK says | EUROtoday
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Putin arch-rival Alexei Navalny died after being poisoned with a deadly toxin and Russia is responsible for the assault, Britain and its European allies have mentioned.
In a dramatic press convention held on the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands mentioned that evaluation of samples from Navalny’s physique had discovered the presence of epibatidine – a lethal toxin present in poison dart frogs in South America.
After the findings have been introduced by Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya, overseas secretary Yvette Cooper pinned the blame squarely on the Kremlin and mentioned solely Russia had the “means, motive and opportunity” to hold out such an assault.
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She mentioned: “Today, beside his widow, the UK is shining a light on the Kremlin’s barbaric plot to silence his voice. 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.”
The 5 international locations mentioned Russia had proven a “repeated disregard for international law” and that they’d reported the poisoning to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The Kremlin has rejected the claims, with Russian overseas ministry Maria Zakharova telling TASS: “When the check outcomes can be found and the formulation for the substances are disclosed, we are going to remark accordingly.
“Until then, all such assertions are merely propaganda aimed at diverting attention from pressing Western issues,” the news agency cited her as saying. The report also said she described Navalny as a blogger “officially designated as a terrorist and extremist in Russia”.
Meanwhile, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Navalny “displayed huge courage in the face of tyranny”.
He added: “His determination to expose the truth has left an enduring legacy, and my thoughts are with his family today. I am doing whatever it takes to defend our people, our values and our way of life from the threat of Russia and Putin’s murderous intent.”
After the press convention, Ms Navalnaya referred to as for Vladimir Putin to be “held accountable”. She wrote: “I was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon.”
Ms Navalnaya beforehand introduced her husband’s dying on the similar gathering, two years in the past. The Kremlin has all the time denied any involvement.
Navalny, a thorn within the aspect of the Kremlin who crusaded towards official corruption and staged large anti-Putin protests, died in a penal colony in Siberia in February 2024, aged 47. The former lawyer had been serving a 19-year sentence on fees he believed to be politically motivated.
It shouldn’t be clear how the frog poison was allegedly administered to Navalny. But the allies additionally pointed to an try to poison Navalny with the nerve agent novichok in 2020, which adopted the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.
Ms Navalnaya mentioned final yr that two unbiased labs had discovered that her husband was poisoned shortly earlier than his dying. It had been broadly assumed that Navalny had been poisoned by the Russian state, however proof of the particular poison in his physique, together with the assertion by the European international locations, is a brand new growth.
In her assertion, she added: “I am grateful to the European states for the meticulous work they carried out over two years, and for uncovering the truth. Vladimir Putin is a murderer. He must be held accountable for all his crimes.”
The Foreign Office mentioned there will be no harmless clarification for the toxin having been discovered on Navalny’s physique.
Ms Cooper added: “Since Yulia Navalnaya announced the loss of her husband here in Munich two years ago, the UK has pursued the truth of Alexei Navalny’s death with fierce determination. Only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia.”
Navalny’s dying got here after Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia have been poisoned with novichok in July 2018. Last yr, a serious inquiry into the poisonings discovered that Putin had ordered the “astonishingly reckless” tried assassination of Mr Skripal as a “public demonstration of Russian power”.
The report additionally mentioned the Russian president was “morally responsible” for the dying of Dawn Sturgess, an harmless bystander who died after being uncovered to the chemical weapon after it was left in a discarded fragrance bottle.
Russia was additionally answerable for the assassination of former spy Alexander Litvinenko within the UK, based on the European Court of Human Rights. The 43-year-old, who had labored for the Russian safety companies earlier than defecting to the UK, died after consuming inexperienced tea laced with poison in London in 2006.
The joint assertion by the 5 international locations mentioned they’re “confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin”.
It added: “This is the conclusion of our governments based on analyses of samples from Alexei Navalny. These analyses have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine. Epibatidine is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America. It is not found naturally in Russia.
“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. Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/navalny-death-dart-frog-poison-russia-putin-b2920651.html