United News of Bangladesh

The United Kingdom has said it wants action to be taken following findings that Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny died after being poisoned, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Sunday. Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Cooper said European laboratory tests indicated Navalny was killed using a rare toxin derived from dart frogs, adding that the evidence pointed to a breach of international chemical weapons rules. Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in a Siberian prison in 2024 while serving a sentence that Western governments and his supporters had described as politically motivated. Russian authorities have previously said he died of natural causes. Cooper said the UK and its allies had been pursuing the circumstances surrounding Navalny’s death since it occurred and were now seeking accountability through international mechanisms. She said a group of European ministers had reported the findings to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for further action. Asked about possible steps, Cooper said Britain would continue to consider coordinated measures with its allies, including sanctions against Russia, as part of its broader response to Moscow’s actions, including the war in Ukraine. Russia’s embassy in London has denied any involvement in Navalny’s death and rejected the poisoning allegations, describing them as unfounded. The issue has renewed calls within the UK for tougher measures against Russia, with opposition figures also urging stronger enforcement of existing sanctions.   With inputs from BBC

Five European nations have concluded that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a rare toxin derived from poison dart frogs, escalating accusations against the Kremlin over his death. Foreign ministries of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said laboratory analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body found the presence of epibatidine, a potent neurotoxin naturally secreted by dart frogs in South America but also capable of being manufactured synthetically. In a joint statement, the countries said Russia had the “means, motive and opportunity” to administer the poison and announced plans to report Moscow to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for an alleged breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, died on Feb 16, 2024, in an Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence he said was politically motivated. Russian authorities have maintained that he died of natural causes, denying any involvement. His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, said she had been convinced from the outset that her husband was poisoned and that new findings now provided proof. She again accused Putin of being responsible and called for accountability. At least 6,000 killed over 3 days during RSF attack on Sudan’s el-Fasher, UN says European officials said epibatidine affects the nervous system in a manner similar to nerve agents, causing breathing difficulties, seizures, slowed heart rate and potentially death. They expressed high confidence in the findings but acknowledged the investigation was complex and time-consuming. Navalny survived a previous poisoning in 2020 involving a nerve agent attack he blamed on the Kremlin. He later returned to Russia after treatment in Germany and was immediately arrested, spending the final years of his life in prison. The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected accusations of using chemical or biological weapons against political opponents.

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