UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stated the need for new coordinated sanctions against the Russian regime in response to the results of the international investigation into Alexei Navalny’s death.
According to a joint statement by the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, epibatidine, a highly toxic neurotoxin naturally found in the skin of poison dart frogs native to South America (particularly Ecuador), was detected in the politician’s biomaterial. This substance is not found in the wild in Russia, and poison dart frogs do not produce the toxin in captivity.
“Only the Russian state had the means, motive, and opportunity to use this poison on Navalny in a high-security prison colony in Siberia,” the British Foreign Secretary emphasized in an interview with the BBC and at the Munich Security Conference.
Cooper directly called the incident a “clear violation” of the Chemical Weapons Convention and stated, “We want to see action. We continue to consider coordinated measures, including increased sanctions against the Russian regime.”
Five European countries have officially blamed the Russian authorities for the opposition leader’s death. London emphasized that the findings were based on independent laboratory analysis of samples conducted in each participating country.
The Kremlin, as usual, rejected the accusations, calling them “another Western propaganda campaign” and “anti-Russian propaganda.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that no evidence was provided.
Alexei Navalny died on February 16, 2024, in the Polar Wolf penal colony (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug). The official Russian version is natural causes. New findings from European laboratories were published exactly two years after the tragedy.
Experts note that epibatidine is one of the most potent natural neurotoxins: hundreds of times more potent than nicotine, it causes respiratory muscle paralysis, seizures, coma, and rapid death. A synthetic analogue of the substance can also be produced in the laboratory.