The governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany, and the Netherlands have determined that Alexei Navalny was killed by Russia using a frog-derived poison.
In a Saturday joint statement, the nations expressed being “confident” that the Russian dissident was poisoned by Moscow with a substance called epibatidine, which occurs naturally in South American poison dart frogs—a species not indigenous to Russia.
The nations wrote that “Russia claimed Navalny died of natural causes, but considering epibatidine’s toxicity and the reported symptoms, poisoning was the most probable cause of death.” They added that “Navalny died in custody, which means Russia possessed the means, motive, and opportunity to deliver this poison to him.”
This determination was reached through analysis of specimens collected from Navalny’s remains.
Navalny, among the most formidable adversaries of the Russian government, perished in a Siberian penal facility in 2024, following his decision to return to his homeland in 2021.
Upon his return, Navalny was promptly arrested on accusations of fraud and contempt of court, charges that were broadly viewed as politically driven.
The activist was notably transported to a German medical facility in 2020 for treatment, after Western nations, including the United States, alleged that Russia had poisoned him with novichok—a nerve agent created by the Soviet Union.
The statement declared that “Russia’s continued violation of international law is evident,” noting that Russia is also broadly suspected of employing novichok in England in 2018, resulting in the death of British citizen Dawn Sturgess.
The statement continued that “These recent discoveries once again emphasize the necessity of making Russia answerable for its ongoing breaches of the Chemical Weapons Convention and, in this case, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.”
The nations further stated they had corresponded with the director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to “notify him of Russia’s violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.”