{"id":12253,"date":"2026-02-15T08:40:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=12253"},"modified":"2026-02-15T08:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:40:03","slug":"what-is-the-dart-frog-toxin-said-to-be-linked-to-alexey-navalnys-death-crime-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=12253","title":{"rendered":"What is the \u2018dart frog\u2019 toxin, said to be linked to Alexey Navalny\u2019s death? | Crime News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"post-label__text\">EXPLAINER<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherland allege that Russia poisoned Navalny, which caused his death about two years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">5 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Five European countries \u2013 the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands \u2013 have accused Russia of using a toxin from poison dart frogs to kill Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.<\/p>\n<p>The European allies claimed\u00a0on Saturday that Navalny was poisoned while he was held in an Arctic penal colony\u00a0two years ago, a claim Moscow rejected as propaganda.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Navalny died, aged 47, in an Arctic prison colony in February 2024, after being convicted of extremism and other charges, all of which he denied. Russian authorities said the politician became ill after a walk and died from natural causes.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-did-the-european-countries-say-about-navalny-s-poisoning\">What did the European countries say about Navalny\u2019s poisoning?<\/h2>\n<p>In a joint statement, the five countries said analyses of samples from Navalny\u2019s body \u201cconclusively\u201d confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>The UK said on Saturday the poisoning demonstrated \u201can alarming pattern of behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It held a public inquiry into the poisoning in the UK of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018. It concluded last year that Russian President Vladimir Putin must have ordered the Novichok nerve agent attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRussia claimed that\u00a0Navalny\u00a0died of natural causes. But given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause of his death,\u201d the joint statement said.<\/p>\n<p>The joint statement added that the latest findings underlined the need for Russia to be held accountable for \u201cits repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and, in this instance, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear how the European allies obtained samples from Navalny\u2019s body.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-are-poison-dart-frogs\">What are poison dart frogs?<\/h2>\n<p>The statement said analysis of samples from Navalny\u2019s body confirmed the presence of epibatidine.<\/p>\n<p>Epibatidine is a neurotoxin secreted by dart frogs in the wild in South America. These small and brightly coloured frogs are typically found in rainforests.<\/p>\n<p>It can also be manufactured in a lab, which European scientists suspect was the case with the substance used on Navalny. It works on the body in a similar way to nerve agents, causing shortness of breath, convulsions, seizures, a slowed heart rate and ultimately death.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-did-russia-respond\">How did Russia respond?<\/h2>\n<p>The Russian government, which has repeatedly denied any responsibility for Navalny\u2019s death, dismissed the latest allegations as \u201ca Western propaganda hoax\u201d, according to the state news agency TASS, while the Russian embassy in London said: \u201cOne must ask what kind of person would believe this nonsense about a frog.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the test results are available and the formulas for the substances are disclosed, we will comment accordingly,\u201d Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying by the agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil then, all such assertions are merely propaganda aimed at diverting attention from pressing Western issues,\u201d TASS quoted her as saying. The report also said she described Navalny as a blogger \u201cofficially designated as a terrorist and extremist in Russia\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"who-was-alexey-navalny-and-when-did-he-die\">Who was Alexey Navalny and when did he die?<\/h2>\n<p>Navalny was a Russian opposition leader.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, he became notorious by alleging corruption in state-run corporations, such as gas giant Gazprom and oil behemoth Rosneft, through his blogs and other posts.<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, he founded RosPil, an anticorruption project run by a team of lawyers that analyses spending of state agencies and companies, exposing violations and contesting them in court. In 2011, he established the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which became his team\u2019s main platform for exposing alleged corruption among Russia\u2019s top political ranks.<\/p>\n<p>Navalny was the target of an earlier poisoning in 2020, with a nerve agent in an attack he blamed on the Kremlin, which always denied involvement. His family and allies fought to have him flown to Germany for treatment and recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Five months later, he returned to Russia, where he was immediately arrested and imprisoned for the last three years of his life. He died on February 16, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>His death was announced minutes before the opening of the Munich Security Conference in 2024. In response, the conference made a rare schedule adjustment to allow his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, to address the conference, and she called for Putin to be held accountable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof \u2026 I am grateful to the European states for the meticulous work they carried out over two years and for uncovering the truth,\u201d she said on social media while attending this year\u2019s Munich conference on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Navalny was born in 1976 in the western part of the Moscow region. He graduated from Russia\u2019s RUDN University, where he majored in law. He also earned a degree in economics in 2001 while working as a lawyer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXPLAINER The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherland allege that Russia poisoned Navalny, which caused his death about two years ago. Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a05 mins info Five European countries \u2013 the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands \u2013 have accused Russia of using a toxin from poison dart frogs to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}