5 European nations say Russian opposition leader Navalny was poisoned and blame Kremlin

Five European countries say tests confirm Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin, and they blame the Russian state

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5 European nations say Russian opposition leader Navalny was poisoned and blame Kremlin

Five European countries say tests confirm Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin, and they blame the Russian state

ByThe Associated PressFebruary 14, 2026, 8:00 AM

1:20FILE - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny speaks to the media in front of security officers standing guard at the Foundation for Fighting Corruption office in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)The Associated Press

LONDON -- Five European nations say Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin, and are blaming the Russian state for the attack.

The foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said Saturday that analysis of samples from Navalny, who died two years ago, “have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.” It is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America.

The countries said that “only the Russian state had the combined means, motive and disregard for international law” to carry out the attack.

They said they were reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

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Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died in the Arctic penal colony in February 2024. He was serving a 19-year sentence that he believed to be politically motivated.

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said last year that two independent labs had found that her husband was poisoned shortly before his death.Navalnaya has repeatedly blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, something Russian officials have vehemently denied.