Moscow challenges European nations to provide concrete evidence for their allegations that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a rare dart frog toxin.
MOSCOW: Russia has demanded that European nations provide concrete data to support their allegations that the Kremlin poisoned critic Alexei Navalny with a rare dart frog toxin.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made the statement on Wednesday, challenging Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands to substantiate their claims. The European countries said on Saturday that analyses confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in South American poison dart frogs, in Navalny’s body.
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They asserted Moscow had the “means, motive and opportunity” to administer the poison. Zakharova dismissed the accusations as being of the “‘highly likely’ variety” with no specific details.
She suggested the allegations were a political proclamation timed to overshadow other events. “We demand they hand over concrete data on this issue,” Zakharova told a news briefing.
The Kremlin has flatly rejected the European accusations. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said the truth about her husband’s death had finally been disclosed.
