5 European nations accuse Russia of poisoning Navalny with frog toxin

BRUSSELS – 14 February 2026: The United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany, and the Netherlands issued a joint statement on Saturday asserting that opposition figure Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal chemical toxin while in Russian custody.

The statement, agreed by the five countries’ foreign ministers, says analyses of Navalny’s samples confirmed the presence of epibatidine.

The statement noted that this is a potent neurotoxin found in poison dart frogs native to South America and that it does not exist naturally in Russia.

“Given the toxicity of epibatidine and the reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause of [Navalny’s] death,” the statement said.

Alexei Navalny was a prominent Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, known internationally for exposing government graft and challenging President Vladimir Putin’s administration.

He died in February 2024 while imprisoned in Russia.

In 2020, Navalny survived a poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent, which he and many Western governments blamed on the Kremlin, a claim the Kremlin denied.

Russian authorities later arrested him in January 2021 when he returned from Germany, where he had been treated for the poisoning, and he remained in jail until his death on 16 February 2024.

Navalny’s supporters and multiple European governments assert that he was poisoned with a lethal toxin, whereas Russian authorities have officially claimed that his death was due to natural causes.

“Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him,” the statement read.

The five countries rejected Russian claims that Navalny’s death resulted from natural causes and expressed concern that Russia has not destroyed all of its chemical weapons.

The joint statement concluded that the nations, along with their international partners, “will make use of all policy levers at our disposal to continue to hold Russia to account.”