Ecuadorian and Colombian amphibian specialists concluded on Monday that the toxin suspected to have caused the death of Aleksey Navalny in 2024 was produced in a laboratory, and not collected from frogs that produce it naturally, reports AFP taken by Agerpres.
Aleksei Navalnyi died in prison on February 16, 2024, at the age of 47. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
The United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands on Saturday published the results of an investigation into the Russian dissident's death, concluding that Navalny was “poisoned” with epibatidine, a toxin present in the skin of Ecuadorian arrow frogs, which “very likely caused his death.”
“It is not difficult to find them (arrow frogs) in any market,” said Andrea Teran from the Jambatu Research Center. In the last ten years, more than 800 specimens of Epipedobates anthonyi have been legally exported from Ecuador. However, Teran explained that “it's easier to buy the toxin or get it from the labs that make it.”
Ivan Lozano, director of the Tesoros de Colombia conservation center, emphasized the difficulty of obtaining a lethal dose from natural frogs: a “huge number of frogs” would be needed, each measuring only 2–3 centimeters. “Only a synthetic, lab-produced version can achieve this goal,” he explained.
Devin Edmonds of the University of Illinois said the toxin depends on the specific insect diet of wild frogs. “The alkaloids in the skin of captive-bred frogs are very different from those of wild frogs. In captivity, they are fed drosophila, so they are not toxic.”he stated.
The five European countries concluded that “only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity to use this lethal toxin against Navalny during his incarceration in Russia”considering Moscow “responsible for his death”.
Immediately after this announcement, his widow, Iulia Navalnaia, stated that “assassination is now scientifically proven.”
Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said that “we do not accept such accusations, we do not agree with them, we consider them biased and unfounded.”
A charismatic anti-corruption activist and opponent of President Vladimir Putin as well as the Russian offensive in Ukraine launched in 2022, Aleksei Navalnyi died in prison on February 16, 2024, aged 47, serving a 19-year sentence on charges he denounced as politically motivated.
