Putin arch-rival Alexei Navalny died after being poisoned with a lethal toxin and Russia is to blame for the attack, the UK and its allies have said.
The UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said during a press conference at the Munich security conference on Satruday that analysis of samples from Navalny “have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.”
It is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America.
Yulia Navalnaya, his widow, appeared at a press conference at the event to announce the discovery.
On social media, she said “I was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon.”
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The Kremlin has always denied the causing Navalny’s death, but the UK and its allies said that “only the Russian state had the combined means, motive and disregard for international law” to carry out the attack on the Russian opposition leader.
The allies also pointed to an attempt to poison Mr Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, which followed the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.
They will now send their findings to the UN’s chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in a penal colony in Siberia in February 2024.
He was serving a 19-year sentence that he believed to be politically motivated.
Ms Navalnaya said last year that two independent labs had found that her husband was poisoned shortly before his death. She has repeatedly blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, something Russian officials have vehemently denied.
It is not clear how the frog poison was allegedly administered to Navalny.
Ms Navalnaya wrote on social media on Saturday: “I was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon.
“I am grateful to the European states for the meticulous work they carried out over two years and for uncovering the truth.“Vladimir Putin is a murderer. He must be held accountable for all his crimes.”
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who has met with Ms Navalnaya at conference in Germany this weekend, said: “Since Yulia Navalnaya announced the loss of her husband here in Munich two years ago, the UK has pursued the truth of Alexei Navalny’s death with fierce determination.
“Only the Russian Government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia.
“Today, beside his widow, the UK is shining a light on the Kremlin’s barbaric plot to silence his voice.
“Russia saw 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.”
A joint statement by the British Government and its allies in Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands said they “are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin”.
It added: “This is the conclusion of our Governments based on analyses of samples from Alexei Navalny.
“These analyses have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.
“Epibatidine is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America.
“It is not found naturally in Russia.
“Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes.
“But given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause of his death.
“Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him.”
This story is being updated
