Wife of Russian opposition leader Navalny says he was killed by poisoning
Lab analysis of Alexei Navalny’s smuggled biological samples in two countries found he was killed by poisoning while in an Arctic jail
The wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday that laboratory analysis of smuggled biological samples had found he was killed by poisoning while incarcerated in an Arctic prison in February 2024.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable critic for years, died in mysterious circumstances while serving a 19-year prison sentence on a string of charges widely seen as retribution for his opposition.
The charismatic anti-corruption campaigner had rallied hundreds of thousands across Russia in anti-Kremlin protests as he exposed the alleged ill-gotten gains of Putin’s inner circle.
His allies allege he was murdered in prison, and Moscow has never fully explained the causes of his death, saying only that he fell ill while walking in the prison yard on February 16, 2024.
Before he was buried, his wife Yulia Navalnaya said his allies “were able to obtain and securely transfer biological samples of Alexei abroad”.
“Laboratories in two countries came to the conclusion that Alexei was killed. Specifically: poisoned,” she said in a video posted on social media.