"Russia saw [Russian opposition leader Alexei] Navalny as a threat."

"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."

"[The attack] must have been authorized at the highest level, by President Putin."

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper

 

[I was] certain from the first day [that Alexei was poisoned], but now there is proof."

"Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapons."

"[Putin is] a murderer [who must be held accountable]."

Yulia Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny's wife 

 

"No one but Putin's henchmen will be able to say in detail what happened on February 16, 2024, in the Russian penal colony."

"But it is clear that Russian authorities had the possibility, the motive and the means to administer the poison to Navalny."

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul

The longtime Kremlin critic died in prison following charges he decried as politically motivated  Image: GINTS IVUSKANS/AFP/Getty Images

 

Alexander Litvinenko in ICU, Getty Images

In 2006, former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko died an excruciating death in a London hospital. He had become a stern critic of the Kremlin. The radioactive isotope polonium-210 had been slipped into tea he was served, and it went right to work painfully degrading his bodily functions. It took an agonizing 21 days of unremitting pain for the man to die, while doctors working to help save his life tried to diagnose what was killing him; radioactive poisoning.

 

In Salisbury England in 2018 the Kremlin launched an attack targeting former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, with the nerve agent Novichok that made Skripal and his daughter seriously ill, but they survived. When a British woman came across a discarded bottle holding traces of the nerve agent, she died of its effects. Subsequently British intelligence found traces of the biological weapon in various places, posing a deadly threat to the public. 

 

In 2020, Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent that he identified as an attack by the Kremlin. This was not the first time attempts to poison him and cause his death occurred and he recognized the method and the medium as he became deathly ill. He was flown to Germany for medical attention, where he was treated and recovered from the attack. Rather than remain in safety out of the reach of the Kremlin he decided to return to Russia, where he was immediately imprisoned, with trumped-up charges.

 

Given one sentence after another on the basis of charges that could never stand up to scrutiny, he was imprisoned for years, and finally sent to the 'Polar Wolf' penal colony for an additional 19-year sentence. He was weak and ill and to no one's surprise several years later, he  died in that prison in the Russian Arctic. Cause of death, according to Russian authorities; high blood pressure caused by cardiac arrythmia. 

 

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2015 Photograph: Sefa Karacan/Andalou/Getty Images

 

Now, the foreign ministries of the U.K. France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands have announced findings from analyses in European laboratories of Navalny body samples that "conclusively confirmed the presence of epiatidine", a neurotoxin secreted by South American dart frogs. A toxin not found anywhere in Russia; but one that could be imported or chemically produced in a lab. "Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison", a joint statement read.

 

Leading to the five countries reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Crusading against official corruption, Navalny staged massive anti-Kremlin protests. Navalny's poisoning demonstrates "that Vladimir Putin is prepared to use biological weapons against his own people in order to remain in power", stated French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

 

Last year, said Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya, two independent labs found her husband was poisoned shortly before his death. While according to Russian authorities, the imprisoned politician fell ill following a walk, dying from natural causes. Epibatidine acts on the body similarly to nerve agents, causing shortness of breath, convulsions, seizures, slowed heart rate, and ultimately death.

 

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny appears on a screen via video link from the IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, during a court hearing to consider an appeal against his sentence in the criminal case on numerous charges, including the creation of an extremist organization, in Moscow, Russia September 26, 2023   Reuters