Russia killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny using toxin from dart frog, UK says
BBC World
February 14, 2026
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed using a poison derived from dart frog toxins, according to the UK and its European allies. Two years after his death in a Siberian penal colony, analysis of samples taken from his body revealed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin naturally found in South American dart frogs but not in Russia. The UK Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, accused the Russian government of having the means, motive, and opportunity to carry out the poisoning while Navalny was imprisoned. Despite Moscow dismissing the findings as an "information campaign," Cooper emphasized that there is no innocent explanation for the toxin's presence.
Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner and Russia's most vocal opposition leader, died suddenly in February 2024 at age 47. He had previously survived a 2020 poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent, which left him critically ill but eventually recoverable after treatment in Germany. Upon his return to Russia, he was arrested and imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, had long argued that her husband was poisoned during his imprisonment, though she did not disclose the specific details of the poison or the analysis until Saturday's announcement. She expressed gratitude to European states for their thorough investigation and for uncovering the truth.
The UK has informed the Organisation on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) about Russia's alleged breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described Navalny as a fighter for a free and democratic Russia, while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer praised his "huge courage" in exposing corruption. The Kremlin, however, continues to deny any wrongdoing, labeling the claims as an attempt to divert attention from
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Originally published on BBC World on 2/14/2026