Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition figure who died two years ago, appears to have been poisoned. According to the German magazine “Der Spiegel”, five European countries will issue a joint statement at the Munich security conference.
Tests on tissue samples from Navalny’s body have detected the toxin epibatidin, a highly toxic compound found in certain South American poison dart frogs. Because Navalny was in a Russian penal colony at the time of his death, the only plausible explanation is a Russian state‑sponsored poisoning.
The countries planning the statement are the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. They intend to forward their findings to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), arguing that Russia has not destroyed its chemical weapons stock‑piles in line with international agreements.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, had raised similar accusations against Russia last year, citing “foreign laboratory results” but had not named the specific poison. She demanded that the findings be released publicly.
In 2020 the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reportedly attempted a chemical attack on Navalny using the nerve agent Novichok. He was rescued by doctors at Berlin’s Charité hospital.
