Britain: Russia Killed Opposition Leader Navalny Using Extremely Rare Frog Poison

Moscow - Britain says Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died from a poison developed from the venom of poison dart frogs. The poison is described as extremely rare.

As reported by BBC on Sunday (15/2/2026), Britain and its allies have blamed Russia after analyzing samples from Navalny’s body. He died two years ago in a Siberian prison colony.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said “only the Russian government had the means, motive, and opportunity” to use the poison while Navalny was imprisoned in Russia.

According to the Tass news agency, Moscow dismissed the findings as an “information campaign.” However, Cooper said there is no explanation for why the poison, called epibatidine, was found.

Cooper announced the findings in a joint statement issued by Britain, Sweden, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Cooper met with Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, at a conference this weekend.

“Russia saw Navalny as a threat. By using this type of poison, the Russian state has demonstrated the sinister tools at its disposal and its extraordinary fear of political opposition,” she said.

Britain’s allies said only the Russian state had the means, motive, and opportunity to use the deadly poison against Navalny during his detention in a Russian prison colony in Siberia. They hold Russia responsible for his death.

“Epibatidine can be found naturally in poison dart frogs in the wild in South America. Poison dart frogs kept in captivity do not produce this toxin, and it is not found naturally in Russia. There is no plausible explanation for its presence in Navalny’s body,” she said.

The UK Foreign Office said Britain had notified the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons about Russia’s alleged violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Navalny’s determination to expose the truth had left an enduring legacy. “I will do whatever it takes to defend our people, our values, and our way of life from Russian threats and Putin’s murderous intent,” he said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also said his country “pays tribute” to Navalny, who he said was killed for his fight for a free and democratic Russia.

Navalny was an anti-corruption activist and Russia’s most vocal opposition leader. He died suddenly in prison on February 16, 2024, at the age of 47. In 2020, he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. He received treatment in Germany and was arrested at the airport upon his return to Russia.

An ‘extremely rare’ poison

Epibatidine, the poison that Britain and its European allies say was used to kill Alexei Navalny, originally comes from a group of poison dart frogs native to northern South America.

Although epibatidine had previously been studied as a painkiller and for relieving painful inflammatory lung conditions, it was deemed too toxic for clinical use.

Speaking to BBC Russia, toxicology expert Jill Johnson said the substance is “200 times more potent than morphine.” By acting on receptors in the central nervous system, it can cause “muscle twitching and paralysis, seizures, slow heart rate, respiratory failure, and ultimately death.”

Johnson said this extremely rare neurotoxin is only found in one species of wild frog in small quantities, and only when the frog eats a specific diet. Researchers believe the frogs acquire it through their food, as animals from different habitats show different levels of the toxin, and animals raised in captivity have none at all.

Johnson described it as “an extremely rare way to poison someone.” “Finding a wild frog in the right location eating the right diet to produce the right alkaloid is almost impossible,” she said.

Prior to the announcement, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya had consistently stated that her husband was killed with poison while serving his prison sentence in an Arctic penal colony in 2024.

In September last year, Navalnaya said analysis of smuggled biological samples conducted by laboratories in two countries showed her husband had been “murdered.”

“I was certain from day one that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof. I am grateful to the European countries for the meticulous work they have done over two years and for revealing the truth,” she said.

According to state news agency Tass, Kremlin spokesperson Maria Zakharova said “all this talk and statements are an information campaign aimed at distracting attention from the West’s pressing problems.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who carefully avoided mentioning Navalny by name during his lifetime, briefly referred to him a month after his death, stating that someone dying “is always a sad event.”

At the time of his death, Navalny had been imprisoned for three years on fabricated charges. According to Russian reports, the 47-year-old took a brief walk in the Siberian prison colony, said he felt unwell, then collapsed and never regained consciousness.