Britain and its allies say Russia is responsible for the attack in which Putin’s chief rival Alexei Navalny died after being poisoned with a deadly toxin.
Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said at a news conference at Saturday’s Munich security conference that analysis of Navalny’s samples “conclusively confirmed the presence of pibatidine.”
It is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, attended a press conference at the event to announce the discovery.
She said on social media, “I was convinced from day one that my husband was poisoned, but now there is proof: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapons.”
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The Kremlin has always denied causing Navalny’s death, but Britain and its allies said “only the Russian state has the combination of means, motivations and disregard for international law” to launch an attack on the Russian opposition leader.
Vladimir Putin (AP)
Allies also pointed to an attempt to poison Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, following the 2018 Salisbury poisoning.
They will now send their findings to the United Nations chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Navalny, who fought against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in a Siberian penal colony in February 2024.
He is serving a 19-year prison sentence for what he believes to be a politically motivated crime.
Ms Navalnaya said last year that two independent laboratories found her husband had been poisoned shortly before his death. She has repeatedly blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, which Russian officials have strongly denied.
It is unclear how Navalny was injected with frog poison.
Ms Navalnaya wrote on social media on Saturday: “From day one I was convinced that my husband was poisoned, but now there is proof: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapons.
“I thank European countries for their meticulous work over the past two years and for exposing the truth.” Vladimir Putin is a murderer. He must take responsibility for all his crimes. “
Photo of Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, leaving him in 2024 ((c) Copyright 2024, dpa (www.dpa.de). Alle Rechte vorbehalten)
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who met Ms Navalny at a conference in Germany this weekend, said: “Since Yulia Navalny announced her husband’s death in Munich two years ago, the UK has been fiercely determined to get to the bottom of Alexei Navalny’s death.
“Only the Russian government had the means, motivation and opportunity to use this deadly toxin against Alexei Navalny while he was imprisoned in Russia.
“Today, with his widow at his side, Britain is exposing the Kremlin’s brutal plot to silence his voice.
“Russia sees Navalny as a threat.
“By using this form of poison, the Russian government demonstrates the vile tools at its disposal and its overwhelming fear of political opposition.”
The British government and its allies in Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands issued a joint statement saying they were “convinced that Alexei Navalny died due to poisoning.”
It added: “This is the conclusion reached by our government based on the analysis of Alexei Navalny’s samples.
“These analyzes conclusively confirmed the presence of pibatidine.
“Epibatidine is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America.
“It doesn’t occur naturally in Russia.
“Russia claims Navalny died of natural causes.
“But given the toxicity of pibatidine and the symptoms reported, it is likely that poisoning was the cause of his death.
“Navarny’s death in prison means Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to poison him.”
This story is being updated
