Intelligence agencies say deadly toxin in skin of Ecuador dart frogs found in Navalny’s body and highly likely resulted in his death
Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was killed by dart frog poison administered by the Russian state two years ago, a multi-intelligence agency inquiry has found, according to a statement released by five countries, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The US was not one of the intelligence agencies making the claim.
Navalny died in a remote Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence. Samples from his body were secured before his burial and sent to the laboratories of two countries.
The UK, describing the poisoning as barbaric, said it would be reporting Russia to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as a flagrant violation by Russia of the chemical weapons convention (CWC).
When you go lengths just to kill someone who pissed you off when they don’t pose any threat, it’s either to have the last word, or to incite fear in those who think of opposing you. Assassinating a president is one thing, assassinating someone like a defector pilot is different. And I find Navalny being killed while imprisoned to be more akin to the latter than the former