ANALYSIS
Two years after Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison, five European countries claim they have identified the substance that killed him: epibatidine, an extremely lethal toxin produced by the South American poison dart frog. But why go through the trouble of using such a rare, exotic poison naturally found only on the other side of the world? Some experts believe Navalny may have been used as a lab rat.
Issued on: 17/02/2026 -
FRANCE24
By: Sébastian SEIBT
The phantasmal poison frog is a poison dart frog endemic to Ecuador. It is one of the most poisonous animals in the world. © Pauln/Wikipedia commons
Two days prior to the two-year anniversary of Alexei Navalny's sudden death in a Russian prison, Britain, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden on Saturday presented the conclusion of their joint investigation.
“[We] are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin,” they said in a statement issued on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
“Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes. But given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause," they said.
Navalny was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s staunchest critics and was serving a 19-year sentence in an Arctic prison colony when he died. “Meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him,” they added.
Russia flatly rejected the allegations.
"Naturally, we do not accept such accusations. We disagree with them. We consider them biased and not based on anything. And we strongly reject them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Two days prior to the two-year anniversary of Alexei Navalny's sudden death in a Russian prison, Britain, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden on Saturday presented the conclusion of their joint investigation.
“[We] are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin,” they said in a statement issued on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
“Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes. But given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause," they said.
Navalny was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s staunchest critics and was serving a 19-year sentence in an Arctic prison colony when he died. “Meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him,” they added.
Russia flatly rejected the allegations.
"Naturally, we do not accept such accusations. We disagree with them. We consider them biased and not based on anything. And we strongly reject them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
From polonium to epibatidine
The five countries said their finding was “conclusive”, and came after having carried out extensive “analyses of samples” from his body.
Russia has been accused of using poison when targeting its enemies before.
The nerve agent novichok was used in the attempted assassination of Navalny in 2020, and former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury 2018. A woman in Salisbury died after accidentally coming into contact with a perfume bottle that had been contaminated with the nerve agent.
Russia has also been accused of the fatal poisoning of Russian defector and former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. Litvinenko died after having used a tea set contaminated with the radioactive chemical element polonium-210.
The independent Russian media outlet Meduza said Navalny’s symptoms matched with “what is known about epibatidine’s effects”.
Toxicology expert Jill Johnson told BBC Russian that epibatidine is "200 times more potent than morphine". Among the symptoms, she said, are "muscle twitching and paralysis, seizures, slow heart rate, respiratory failure and finally death".
Hard to detect and lethal
But why go through the trouble of using such a rare type of poison which is naturally found only in dart frogs native to South America?
“With Navalny in Russian custody, there was no need to use such an exotic poison,” Luca Trenta, an associate professor in International Relations at Swansea University. “They could have used anything."
One of the reasons, experts say, might have been its effectiveness.
Alistair Hay, a toxicologist at the University of Leeds, said that when it comes to nerve agents like novichok, death can be prevented if the person gets proper medical care quickly enough. “I don't know how you treat a patient with epibatidine. I haven’t seen anything out there.”
To date, there is only one documented case of a person having survived epibatidine poisoning: a lab worker who was allegedly exposed to it in 2010. Hay said that the person’s own account of his survival – apparently thanks to the use of antihistamines – raises “quite a lot of questions”, however.
Hay explained that epibatidine is also very difficult to detect because only very small doses are needed to make it lethal – “so it's harder to find traces" of it.
When analysts do not know the specific substance they are looking for, detection becomes even harder. And since epibatidine has not been associated with any other known poisoning cases previously, it would not be the first toxin that analysts test for.
It is also a poison that is fairly easy to administer.”The known routes are ingestion and through the skin,” Hay said. “It would be equally effective, I'm sure, by inhalation as well."
Was Navalny an experiment?
Kevin Riehle, an expert in intelligence and security studies at Brunel University London, said that all of the above-mentioned reasons still do not explain why Russia would use such a rare and exotic poison on someone who was already behind bars and in very poor health.
“The only thing that could possibly be the reason, and this is rather quite villainous, is that they were testing it," he said. "They were trying to see how this thing was going to work on somebody, and he was going to die anyway.”
Hay said the toxin has been known to scientists for decades, and they been able to reproduce it in their laboratories. It was initially researched for its painkilling capabilities because it can block nerve transmission, but those ideas were ultimately abandoned because the risks of getting the dose wrong were too high.
"Developing this kind of weapon is not difficult," Trenta said.
Mark Galeotti, a Russia security expert and director of the London-based think tank Mayak Intelligence, said that for Russia, the alleged poisoning would also have been a way of reminding the world that "they have had a laboratory working on poisons for decades”, and that it is capable of producing “new and more interesting and more complex toxins and venoms".
Galeotti said the Russians may have had dual motives in opting for such an unusual poison as epibatidine. “On the one hand they're happy for people to think that Navalny was poisoned because that sends out a warning,” showing not only what the Kremlin is capable of, but the lengths to which it is swilling to go.
“But on the other hand, by using something more exotic, maybe they hoped the details would never actually come to light.”
In addition, Trenta said the poison would likely have been used to kill two birds with one stone: to avenge an enemy while setting a memorable example. “These types of weapons in particular have to do with a certain element of theatre. So they want to appear grandiose, and [contain] a certain element of signalling. There is a communicative element here."
This article was adapted from the original in French by Louise Nordstrom.
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