Russia has dismissed claims by Britain and its European allies that Alexei Navalny was killed with dart frog poison, branding them a Western 'information campaign'
The Russian lab credited with creating the notorious Novichok nerve agents is believed to have synthesised the rare frog dart poison that Britain says killed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
It comes after scientists at Porton Down, the UK's top secret defence lab in Wiltshire , "conclusively" identified epibatidine - a powerful neurotoxin found naturally in South American dart frogs - in smuggled biological samples linked to Navalny.
The Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner was found dead in his cell at a remote Arctic penal colony on February 16, 2024, aged 47.
Following the discovery of the toxin, Britain - backed by France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands - has accused Moscow of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention. Russia , however, has dismissed the claims as "an information campaign", according to Tass news agency.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said "only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity" to use the poison while Navalny was imprisoned.
"Russia saw Navalny as a threat," Cooper said. "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."
In a joint statement, the allies said: "Dart frogs in captivity do not produce this toxin and it is not found naturally in Russia. There is no innocent explanation for its presence in Navalny's body."
The Russian lab complex GosNIIOKhT - the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology - is believed to have worked on synthesising the frog toxin.
The Soviet-era institution has been widely described as the creator of the Novichok family of nerve agents. Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in 2020 and underwent treatment in Germany.
In 2013, employees of GosNIIOKhT published a scientific paper describing a preparative method for obtaining the analgesic epibatidine.
In 2015, institute scientists also published details of the "chromatographic determination of micro quantities of epibatidine and its biomarker in blood plasma". Another paper the same year proposed a "synthesis of structural analogues of epibatidine".
The institute has previously been highlighted as central to the Novichok programme, including the 2018 poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. It was later placed under sanctions by the EU and the United States.
The head of the lab complex, Dr Alexander Kutkin, was reportedly revealed this month to have held a birthday celebration attended by multiple figures linked to Putins poisoning experts, including the director of the GosNIIOKhT branch in Chuvashia, Pyotr Tsikhmaystruk; chemist Yuri Litvinov; Colonel Maksim Sharoiko from the Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence Troops; African swine fever specialist Natalia Chernomashentseva; the institutes financial director Sergey Evdokimov, according to Sergey Kanev, a Russian investigative journalist specialising in the security services.
Exiled Vil Mirzayanov, 90, a former GosNIIOKhT chemist who exposed the top-secret Novichok programme, said Russian specialists would have been fully capable of producing the frog toxin.
"They synthesised very complex compounds there, and this poison, I looked at the formula, it's not complicated. It can be easily synthesised. I think it can get into the body in various ways: through food, water, through the skin." He had earlier predicted that Putins Frankenstein scientists used a new toxin to kill Navalny.
Epibatidine is an extremely potent neurotoxin first isolated from the skin of the Ecuadorian tree frog Epipedobates tricolor.
British toxicology expert Jill Johnson described it as an "incredibly rare way of poisoning a person". She said: "It is 200 times stronger than morphine With a properly selected dosage, it can cause muscle twitching, paralysis, convulsions, a slowdown in heart rate, respiratory failure, and ultimately - death.
Documented cases of human exposure are extraordinarily rare and have previously been limited to laboratory accidents.
Dr Alexander Polupan, who treated Navalny after the 2020 Novichok attack, said the known symptoms match epibatidine poisoning. A graphic picture shows vomit in Navalny's cell after his death.
Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said British and European experts had finally established the cause of his death.
"Scientists from five European countries have established: my husband Alexei Navalny was poisoned with epibatidine, one of the most deadly poisons on earth," she said. "I was sure that my husband was poisoned, from the first day, but now there is evidence: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapons."
Russia has disputed the claims. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "When the test results are available and the formulas for the substances are disclosed, we will comment accordingly."
"All such assertions are merely propaganda aimed at diverting attention from pressing Western issues," she added.
The Russian embassy in London said: "We've become accustomed to the feeblemindedness of Western fabricators; who would you have to be to believe this nonsense about a frog?"
俄罗斯驳斥了英国及其欧洲盟友关于阿列克谢·纳瓦利内被箭毒蛙毒素杀害的说法，称这是西方的一场‘信息宣传战’
据信，以研制臭名昭著的诺维乔克神经毒剂而闻名的俄罗斯实验室，合成了英国方面所称导致克里姆林宫批评者阿列克谢·纳瓦利内死亡的罕见箭毒蛙毒素。
此前，位于威尔特郡的英国顶级机密国防实验室波顿唐的科学家们，在涉及纳瓦利内的走私生物样本中"确凿"鉴定出了地棘蛙素——一种天然存在于南美箭毒蛙体内的强效神经毒素。
2024年2月16日，俄罗斯反对派领袖、反腐败活动人士在北极偏远流放地的牢房中身亡，终年47岁。
在发现该毒素后，英国在法国、德国、瑞典和荷兰的支持下，指控莫斯科违反《化学武器公约》。然而据塔斯社报道，俄罗斯驳斥这些指控为"信息战"。
外交大臣伊薇特·库珀在慕尼黑安全会议上表示，纳瓦利内在监禁期间遭遇投毒事件，"只有俄罗斯政府具备手段、动机和机会"实施这一行为。
库珀表示：“俄罗斯将纳瓦尔尼视为威胁。通过使用这种毒剂，俄政府展示了其所掌握的卑劣手段，以及对政治反对派的极度恐惧。”
盟国在一份联合声明中表示："人工饲养的箭毒蛙不会产生这种毒素，且该毒素在俄罗斯境内并不天然存在。纳瓦利内体内出现这种毒素绝非偶然。"
据信，俄罗斯国家有机化学与技术研究所（GosNIIOKhT）曾致力于蛙类毒素的合成研究。
这家苏联时期的机构被普遍认为是诺维乔克系列神经毒剂的研发者。2020年，纳瓦利内曾遭诺维乔克神经毒剂袭击，并在德国接受治疗。
2013年，俄罗斯国家有机化学技术研究所（GosNIIOKhT）的研究人员发表了一篇科学论文，阐述了镇痛物质埃博腺苷的制备方法。
2015年，该研究所科学家还发表了关于"血浆中微量埃博拉定及其生物标志物的色谱测定法"的详细研究。同年另一篇论文提出了"埃博拉定结构类似物的合成"方法。
该研究所此前被指是诺维乔克计划的核心机构，涉及2018年对前间谍谢尔盖·斯克里帕尔及其女儿尤利娅在索尔兹伯里的投毒事件。此后欧盟和美国对该机构实施了制裁。
据专门研究安全部门的俄罗斯调查记者谢尔盖·卡涅夫透露，实验室综合体负责人亚历山大·库特金博士本月被曝举办了一场生日庆祝活动，多位与普京毒剂专家有关联的人物出席，包括楚瓦什国立有机化学与技术研究所分所所长彼得·齐赫迈斯特鲁克、化学家尤里·利特维诺夫、辐射化学和生物防御部队上校马克西姆·沙罗伊科、非洲猪瘟专家娜塔莉亚·切尔诺马申采娃，以及该研究所财务总监谢尔盖·叶夫多基莫夫。
现年90岁的维尔·米尔扎亚诺夫（Vil Mirzayanov）曾在前苏联国家有机化学技术研究所（GosNIIOKhT）担任化学家，并揭露了绝密的诺维乔克（Novichok）神经毒剂计划。这位流亡人士表示，俄罗斯专家完全有能力生产这种蛙类毒素。
"他们在那里合成了非常复杂的化合物，但这种毒药——我看了它的化学式——并不复杂，很容易合成。我认为它可以通过多种途径进入人体：食物、水或皮肤接触。"他此前曾预测，普京手下的"科学怪人"团队使用了一种新型毒素杀害纳瓦利内。
埃帕巴地丁是一种剧毒神经毒素，最初从厄瓜多尔三色箭毒蛙（Epipedobates tricolor）的皮肤中分离出来。
英国毒理学专家吉尔·约翰逊（Jill Johnson）将这种中毒方式描述为"极其罕见"。她表示："其毒性是吗啡的200倍。若剂量控制得当，可导致肌肉抽搐、瘫痪、痉挛、心率减缓、呼吸衰竭，最终致人死亡。"
有记录的人类暴露案例极为罕见，此前仅局限于实验室事故。
曾在2020年纳瓦尔尼遭遇诺维乔克中毒事件后为其治疗的亚历山大·波卢潘医生表示，已知症状与埃波巴定中毒相符。一张触目惊心的照片显示，纳瓦尔尼死亡后其牢房内有呕吐物。
纳瓦尔尼的遗孀尤利娅·纳瓦尔纳亚表示，英国和欧洲专家已最终确定了他的死因。
她表示："来自五个欧洲国家的科学家已确认，我丈夫阿列克谢·纳瓦利内是遭地球上最致命的毒物之一——蝙蝠毒素所害。从第一天起我就确信他是被投毒，如今证据确凿：普京用化学武器杀害了阿列克谢。"
俄罗斯对这些指控提出异议。外交部发言人玛丽亚·扎哈罗娃表示：“待检测结果公布且相关物质分子式披露后，我们将作出相应回应。”
她补充道："所有这些言论都不过是宣传手段，旨在转移人们对西方紧迫问题的关注。"
俄罗斯驻伦敦大使馆表示：“我们早已对西方捏造者的愚蠢习以为常；谁会相信这种关于青蛙的无稽之谈？”
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