France and its European partners say new scientific evidence shows Kremlin critic and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was killed with a rare toxin, intensifying accusations against the Kremlin and calls for accountability.
France has sharpened its rhetoric against Russia after new forensic findings into the death of Alexei Navalny, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot accusing President Vladimir Putin of being willing to deploy biological weapons against his own people.
In a strongly worded post on X, Barrot said the conclusions drawn by France and four European partners showed that Navalny’s 2024 death in prison was “the result of poisoning with one of the deadliest nerve agents”. He added that the case demonstrated a chilling readiness by the Russian president "to use biological weapons against his own people to stay in power."
The remarks mark one of Paris’s most direct accusations yet and signal a broader European effort to frame Navalny’s death not as an isolated incident but as part of a pattern of state-backed repression.
France says Navalny paid with his life for resisting 'oppression'
European unity hardens stance
France joined the UK, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands in a joint statement unveiled at the Munich Security Conference, where officials said they were confident Navalny had been killed using a “rare toxin” – identified through laboratory analysis as epibatidine, a substance found in the skin of South American dart frogs.
According to the five nations, the evidence points squarely at the Russian state.
“Given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause of his death,” the statement said, adding that Navalny died in custody – meaning Russia had the “means, motive and opportunity”.
London went a step further, with the Foreign Office stating bluntly that it held Russia responsible. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the findings helped “shine a light on the Kremlin’s barbaric plot to silence his voice”.
For Paris, aligning closely with its European partners reinforces a coordinated diplomatic push – one that blends scientific evidence with political pressure.
Macron hails 'courage' of Russians risking arrest to honour Navalny
‘Science-proven facts’ and renewed scrutiny
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said the latest findings transformed long-held suspicions into certainty.
“Two years ago I said that it was Vladimir Putin who killed my husband,” she told attendees in Munich. “Back then it was just words. But today these words have become science-proven facts.”
The European countries have now referred the case to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, raising concerns that Russia may not have fully dismantled its chemical arsenal in line with international commitments.
Moscow has consistently denied any involvement, maintaining that Navalny died of natural causes after falling ill during a walk in his Arctic penal colony. However, the new analysis – and the unity behind it – is likely to intensify scrutiny.
Navalny, Putin’s most prominent domestic critic, had already survived a previous poisoning in 2020 involving the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. After recovering in Germany, he returned to Russia in 2021, where he was immediately arrested and later sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges widely seen as politically motivated.
Even behind bars, he remained a powerful symbol of dissent, continuing to criticise the Kremlin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His anti-corruption campaigns had once drawn tens of thousands onto the streets – a scale of protest that has since become exceedingly rare amid a sweeping crackdown on opposition.
(With newswires)
