Five European countries — Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands — have accused Russia of poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny was poisoned with a rare toxin in 2024, when he was imprisoned. The governments made the allegation on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
In a joint statement, the five countries said forensic experts analysed samples taken from Navalny’s body. The reports confirmed that a lethal toxin poisoned him. They added that the toxin caused his death.
Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in February 2024 in an Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence.
The countries said experts detected epibatidin. Epibatidin is a toxin found in the skin of certain South American dart frogs — in the samples. They added that the substance “highly likely resulted in his death.”
Britain’s Foreign Office said only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to administer such a toxin to Navalny during his imprisonment in a Siberian penal colony, and it held Moscow responsible for his death.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said scientific findings had now confirmed what she had long believed. Speaking at the Munich conference, she said she had previously accused Vladimir Putin of killing her husband and that laboratory evidence had now substantiated those claims.
Last September, Navalnaya said laboratory tests conducted on biological samples smuggled out for analysis showed that poisoning caused her husband’s death.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who met Navalnaya at the conference, said Britain stood alongside her in exposing what she described as the Kremlin’s attempt to silence Navalny.
The five countries said they had reported Russia to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons over the findings. They expressed concern that Moscow may not have destroyed all of its chemical weapons stockpiles. Russia violated the Chemical Weapons Convention, the states added.
Navalny had previously survived a poisoning attempt in 2020 involving the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok while campaigning in Siberia. Authorities evacuated him to Germany for emergency treatment, where he spent months recovering.
Throughout his political career, Navalny led anti-corruption campaigns and organised large-scale protests across Russia. He accusing Putin’s inner circle of accumulating illicit wealth.