Five European countries said in a statement on Saturday that Russian opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died two years ago, died in prison from a deadly toxin found in South American poison dart frogs.
The statement said that analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body “conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.” It added that the substance is not found naturally in Russia.
The five countries – Britain, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands – said the Russian government “had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison” to Navalny, who is being held in a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle.
He added that “only the Russian state had the means, motives and disregard for international law to contribute to Navalny’s death.”
Russian officials have repeatedly denied responsibility for Navalny’s death. CNN has reached out to the Kremlin for comment.
The announcement was made during Germany’s Munich Security Conference, where Navalny’s death was announced in 2024.
At the event two years ago, Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, appeared on stage in tears and received a standing ovation.
In a post on Saturday, Navalnaya said: “I was convinced from day one that my husband was poisoned, but now we have proof: (Russian President Vladimir) Putin killed (Alexei) with chemical weapons.”
“We are grateful to the European countries for their careful attention and uncovering the truth over the past two years,” he said, adding: “President Vladimir Putin is a murderer. He must be held accountable for all his crimes.”
At the time of Mr. Navalny’s death, Russian prison authorities said he “feeled unwell after taking a walk” and lost consciousness “almost immediately.”
He has been imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony since returning to Russia from Germany in 2021, where he was treated for poisoning with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
A joint investigation by CNN and the Bellingcat organization found that the Russian Security Service (FSB) was involved in the poisoning. It was revealed that the FSB had assembled an elite team specializing in nerve agents and had been following Navalny for more than three years.
Russia has again denied any involvement, and Putin said at the time that if Russian security services had wanted Navalny killed, they “would have ended” the mission.
During his lifetime, Navalny was considered one of Putin’s most serious threats, organizing anti-government street protests and using his blog and social media to expose allegations of corruption in the Kremlin and Russian companies.
In a 2018 interview with CNN, he said he had a “clear understanding” of the risks involved in opposing the government.
“But I am not afraid and I am not going to give up on what I am about to do. I will not give up on my homeland. I will not give up on civil rights. I will not give up on uniting people around me who believe in the same ideals as me. And there are quite a lot of such people in Russia,” he said.
In a statement released on Saturday, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Russia viewed Mr Navalny as a threat. By using this form of poison, the Russian state demonstrated the despicable means at its disposal and its overwhelming fear of political opposition.”
In a joint statement, the five countries announced that they had sent a letter to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons regarding Russia’s violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
CNN’s Sebastian Shukla, Anna Chernova and Christian Edwards contributed to this report.
