Navalny’s widow says five labs found frog toxin; five European governments accuse Russia of violating chemical weapons treaty

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said Saturday that scientists in five European countries have identified the toxin epibatidine in biological samples from her late husband and repeated her allegation that “Vladimir Putin killed my husband Alexei Navalny” by using chemical weapons.

The finding, Navalnaya said on a live broadcast of the Russian-language channel Nastoyashchee Vremya, follows a joint statement published by the governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands accusing Russia of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The joint statement, posted on the British government’s website and cited in the broadcast, said independent laboratories detected a toxin not known to occur naturally in Russia. “Five independent laboratories have unequivocally confirmed that epibatidine was present in Navalny’s biological materials,” the program reported. The broadcast cited a government statement saying the substance does not occur naturally in Russia.

The claim of deliberate poisoning stands in contrast to the official Russian account, which the program said attributed Navalny’s death to a combined illness and a heart-rhythm disorder. Russian authorities have declined to open a homicide investigation, and the Kremlin did not comment during the broadcast.

Roman Dobrokhotov, editor-in-chief of the investigative outlet Insider, who appeared as a guest on the program, said his outlet’s prior reporting two years earlier documented symptoms and documents that did not fit the official narrative. “There were symptoms that simply did not fit the official picture — abdominal pain, vomiting, convulsions, then a sudden death,” Dobrokhotov said, and he argued that the new toxicology results align with that earlier reporting.

Dr. Alexander Polupan, who treated Navalny after an earlier Novichok poisoning attempt, told the program that the reported symptoms — gastrointestinal distress, respiratory problems and convulsions — are consistent with documented effects of epibatidine. Polupan said independent laboratories finding the same molecule strengthens the case that the death was caused by poisoning.

The broadcast also quoted international figures and referenced comments given at the Munich security conference. It said investigators and governments coordinated to wait for multiple independent confirmations before publicly releasing the results.

No Russian government official was quoted in the broadcast responding to the five-country statement. Navalnaya called for eventual legal accountability: “I very much hope that one day he will be held to account,” she said.

The program directed listeners to further coverage on its website and social channels.