BBC: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin, the UK and European allies have said.
Two years on from the death of Navalny at a Siberian penal colony, Britain and its allies have blamed the Kremlin following analysis of material samples found on his body.
Speaking from the Munich Security Conference, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said “only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity” to use the poison while Navalny was imprisoned in Russia.
According to Tass news agency Moscow has dismissed the finding as “an information campaign”, but Cooper said there is no explanation for the toxin, called epibatidine, being found.
While Cooper announced the findings, a joint statement was issued by the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Cooper met with Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya at the conference this weekend. “Russia saw Navalny as a threat,” Cooper said at the event.
“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,” she added.
In the statement the allies said: “Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin to target Navalny during his imprisonment in a Russian penal colony in Siberia, and we hold it responsible for his death.
“Epibatidine can be found naturally in dart frogs in the wild in South America. Dart frogs in captivity do not produce this toxin and it is not found naturally in Russia.
“There is no innocent explanation for its presence in Navalny’s body.”
The Foreign Office said the UK has informed the Organisation on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of Russia’s alleged breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Praising Navalny’s “huge courage”, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said “his determination to expose the truth has left an enduring legacy”.
“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,” he added.
