Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is set to face questions from broadcasters on Sunday after the UK and its allies formally blamed the Kremlin for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Foreign Office, along with Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands, announced that Navalny was likely poisoned using a dart frog toxin called Epibatidine.
Analysis of samples from Navalny's body revealed the presence of Epibatidine, a toxin produced by wild dart frogs in South America. The UK and its allies stated there was no innocent explanation for its presence. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Cooper said: 'Only the Russian Government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia.'
The announcement came two years after Navalny's death in a Siberian penal colony. Russian authorities have strenuously denied involvement. Cooper met Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, at the conference. Writing in The Sunday Mirror, Cooper condemned Russian aggression, including hybrid threats, cyber attacks and disinformation.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Navalny's courage and insisted the UK would continue to pressure Russia over its use of chemical and biological weapons. A joint statement by the five nations said: 'Russia's repeated disregard for international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention is clear.' They pointed to previous poisonings, including the 2020 Novichok attack on Navalny and the 2018 Salisbury poisonings.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said: 'These appalling findings confirm what we have long suspected: Alexei Navalny was murdered for daring to speak out against Putin's barbaric regime.' She is due to speak at the Munich conference on Sunday.
