Five European states blame Russia for poisoning Navalny

Five European countries have concluded that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died after being poisoned with epibatidine, a rare toxin found in South American dart frogs, and have held the Russian state responsible.

The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands issued a joint statement on Saturday following laboratory analysis of biological samples taken from Navalny’s body.

Navalny died on 16 February 2024 in the IK-6 penal colony in Harp, north of the Arctic Circle, where he was serving a 19-year sentence.