Five European countries, led by the United Kingdom, have asserted that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin while in a Russian prison two years ago, and did not die of natural causes as claimed by the Kremlin. They specifically attribute the attack to the Russian state. Foreign ministries of the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands reported that biological samples from Navalny's body 'unequivocally confirmed the presence of epibatidine'—a toxin found in the skin of certain South American arrow frogs, which is not native to Russia.

In their joint statement, the five nations emphasized that only 'Russia had the means, motive, and opportunity to administer this poison.' They plan to report this incident to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, highlighting serious international ramifications for Russia. The coordinated response also signifies a unified stance among various Western nations against state-sponsored attacks on political dissidents.

This situation underscores the perceived threat that Navalny posed to the Kremlin, suggesting that the use of such a method reflects the Russian state's contempt for opposition and the extensive fear it harbors toward political dissent. This incident not only drives home the ongoing tensions between Russia and Western countries but also raises alarms about the safety and treatment of political prisoners and opposition figures in authoritarian regimes.