Russia hits back at claims opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed by frog poison, calling it a 'mockery of the dead'
Russia has hit back at claims made by the UK that its opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed by poison developed from a dart frog toxin.
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The Kremlin described the allegations as "a disinformation campaign by the West," hours after the UK and its allies pinned the blame on the Russian state following analysis of material samples found on his body.
The UK Government, alongside European allies, said on Saturday it was "confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin."
Mr Navalny, 47, was found dead in his cell at a remote Arctic penal colony almost two years to the day.
But hitting back at the claims, the Russian Embassy in the UK said: "This isn't a quest for justice, but a mockery of the dead.
"Even after the death of a Russian citizen, London and European capitals cannot give him peace, which speaks volumes about the instigators of this campaign."
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The revelation was made as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper met with Mr Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, at the Munich Security Conference this weekend.
Mrs Navalnaya announced her husband's death at the same gathering in 2024.
Speaking to LBC News' Pip Thomson on Saturday, military analyst and chemical weapons expert Hamish Debretton-Gordon said the killing "underlines" the notion that Russia "has an extant chemical weapons programme, which it declared that it didn't in 2017."
Mr Debretton Gordon said: "It's so important that our leaders in Munich at the security conference show resolve against them and support Ukraine."
When asked how Russia can be held account, he told Pip: "There is a UN mechanism for doing this. There is something called the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Russia signed, as did most countries in the world, outlawing the Use of chemical weapons.
"There is an organisation called the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons who investigates use of chemical weapons, and then it is in effect a war crime.
"So the Russian state in theory should be taken to the International Criminal Court and charged with a war crime. But, but we know that that is highly unlikely to happen."
Speaking at the conference on Saturday, Foreign Secretary Ms Cooper said: "Since Yulia Navalnaya announced the loss of her husband here in Munich two years ago, the UK has pursued the truth of Alexei Navalny's death with fierce determination.
"Only the Russian Government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia.
"Today, beside his widow, the UK is shining a light on the Kremlin's barbaric plot to silence his voice. Russia saw Navalny as a threat.
"By using this form of poison the Russian state demonstrated the despicable tools it has at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition."
The Russian authorities have previously strenuously denied any involvement in his death.
But also hitting back, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, told the TASS news agency: "There will be results of the analyses, there will be formulas of the substances - there will be a commentary.
"Without this, all the talks and statements are an information campaign aimed at diverting attention from the pressing problems of the West."
The statement from the UK Government was supported by allies in Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands.
Stating they were confident that Mr Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin, the nations added: "This is the conclusion of our Governments based on analyses of samples from Alexei Navalny.
"These analyses have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine. Epibatidine is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America."It is not found naturally in Russia.
"Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes.
"But given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause of his death.
"Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him."
The allies also pointed to an attempt to poison Mr Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, which followed the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.
"Russia's repeated disregard for international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention is clear," the five nations said.
They added: "In both cases, only the Russian state had the combined means, motive and disregard for international law to carry out the attacks."
The Foreign Office also insisted that Russia had not destroyed all of its chemical weapons, as Moscow claimed it had done in 2017.
Britain will continue to expose the Kremlin's use of chemical and biological weapons, the Foreign Office added.