The governments of Germany, France, United Kingdom, Sweden and Netherlands They pointed out the Russian Government for the murder of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny two years ago and have indicated that the attack used a powerful neurotoxin originating from a dart frog from Ecuador.
“This is the conclusion of our governments, which is based on the analyzes of Alexei Navalny’s samples. These analyzes have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine“, in reference to the toxin, the foreign ministers of these five governments have pointed out in an official statement released this Saturday.
Russia, remember, stated that Navalny died of natural causes: “While Navalny was in his cell in a prison located north of the Arctic Circle, in northwest Siberia, “he felt unwell, then collapsed and never regained consciousness,” the Kremlin reported.
Instead, in the joint statement, they stated that “given the toxicity of epibatidine and the reported symptoms, the poisoning is the cause of his death with a high probability“.
That is why in the statement, the five European capitals asked that “Russia be held accountable for its repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention” and in this case in particular for its failure to comply with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
“We and our partners will ensure that all avenues at our disposal are activated so that Russia held accountable“, they detailed.
From the Munich Security Conference, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, Yvette Cooper, explained this Saturday that “only the Russian Government had the means, the motive and the opportunity” of using the venom of this amphibian against the Russian opponent.
Cooper expanded on the British response this Sunday, saying that his Government is evaluating some measure, such as increasing sanctions against Russia.
“We continue to consider coordinated action, including increasing sanctions against the Russian regime. “As you know, we have been working on this as part of our response to the brutal invasion of Ukraine, which is also approaching the fourth anniversary of that invasion,” the minister told the BBC.
He added that the best way to keep pressure on the Russian regime is when allies work together.
“Another thing I would say specifically about Alexei Navalny is that one of his words was ‘tell the truth, spread the truth’because it is the most dangerous weapon of all,” Cooper highlighted.
He added that this was the statement that Navalny once made about the Russian regime and, although he can no longer divulge the truth, the United Kingdom does it “for him and for his widow”, Yulia Navalnaya.
Russia’s response
For its part, Russia responded this Sunday to the accusations made. Russian diplomacy described “necropropaganda” and “outrage to the dead” the accusations of the Governments of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and the Netherlands.
“The method chosen by Western politicians, necropropaganda, arouses true astonishment,” said the Russian Embassy in London in a statement released by the agency. TASSon the eve of the second anniversary of the opponent’s death—February 16—in an Arctic prison.
According to the diplomatic legation, these accusations “they are not a search for justice, but an outrage to the dead“.
“Even after the death of a Russian citizen, London and the European capitals cannot let him rest in peace, which very eloquently shows the nature of the promoters of this campaign,” he added.
The Embassy also attacked the media that were “slavishly affiliated with Western political structures and intelligence services.”
“The objective of this ridiculous circus spectacle is transparent: to ignite the dying anti-Russian flame in Western society. If there are no reasons, they forcefully invent them,” he concluded.
For her part, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, María Zajárova, called the European accusations “information campaign to distract attention from the serious problems of the West”.
“At the moment when the results of the investigations on Nord Stream 1 and 2 (gas pipelines) should be presented, they remember Navalny,” he indicated.
He remembered that at the time Russia unsuccessfully asked Europe for the results of the analyzes that they would incriminate her in the poisonings of Navalny and the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.