LONDON: Britain will consider "increasing sanctions" against Russia following findings from five European states that opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed by dart-frog toxin in a Russian prison, UK foreign minister Yvette Cooper said on Sunday. "We continue to look at coordinated action, including increasing sanctions on the Russian regime," Cooper told the BBC from the Munich Security Conference, where the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden announced findings that the Russian state was a prime suspect for poisoning Navalny two years ago. Navalny, a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin, died in a Russian prison in mysterious conditions on February 16, 2024, while serving a 19-year sentence.
The five European countries on Saturday said that a deadly toxin known as epibatidine, found in Ecuadorian dart frogs, was found on laboratory analyses of samples from his body. Cooper told Sky News that the toxin can also be produced synthetically. "We do know that the Russian regime has had possession of this particular chemical," the British foreign minister said. "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," the European countries said in a joint statement on Saturday.
Britain's foreign office said separately that "only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin". It added: "We hold it (Russia) responsible for his death." UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed Navalny's "courage in the face of tyranny" in a social media post, slamming "Putin's murderous intent".
Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman and Moscow's embassy in London dismissed the Western report. The Kremlin has never given a full explanation for Navalny's death, only saying he fell ill and died suddenly after taking a walk in his prison colony. Putin said in 2024 that Navalny had "passed away". The opposition leader died shortly before a presidential election in Russia.
On Saturday, Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnya, said it was now "science-proven" that the Kremlin opponent had been murdered, two years after his death was announced during the same annual conference in Germany. Navalnaya last September said that laboratory analysis of smuggled biological samples found that her husband was killed by poisoning. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot paid "tribute" to Navalny after the findings. "We now know that Vladimir Putin is prepared to use biological weapons against his own people to remain in power," Barrot said in a post on X.
Separately, Russia will not end the militarisation of its economy after fighting in Ukraine ends, the head of Latvia's intelligence agency said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference which ends on Sunday. "The potential aggressiveness of Russia when the Ukraine war stops will depend of many factors: How the war ends, if it's frozen or not, and if the sanctions remain," Egils Zviedris, director of the Latvian intelligence service SAB, said.
Some observers believe that Russia has so thoroughly embraced a war economy and full military mobilisation that it will be difficult for it to reverse course, and that this could push Moscow to launch further offensives against European territories. Zviedris said that lifting current sanctions "would allow Russia to develop its military capacities" more quickly. He acknowledged that Russia has drawn up military plans to potentially attack Latvia and its Baltic neighbours, but also said that "Russia does not pose a military threat to Latvia at the moment". — AFP
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