The European Union Council announced on Friday that it has imposed sanctions on six scientists and researchers suspected of participating in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“The EU remains fully committed to countering the proliferation and use of chemical weapons,” stated the Council. The sanctions consist of an asset freeze and a travel ban to the EU.
Navalny, considered the most prominent political rival to President Vladimir Putin, died in a Russian prison in 2024. As per five European governments, poisoning was “highly likely the cause of his death,” with analyses of samples from Navalny’s body “conclusively confirmed” to contain epibatidine — a toxin from a poison dart frog.
The targeted scientists worked in the military sector and have conducted research and published findings on the synthesis of epibatidine. They were associated with the Signal Scientific Centre and Russia’s State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, a key element of the Russian Chemical Weapons program, according to the statement.
Navalny survived an attempted poisoning in 2020, which he attributed to Russia’s FSB, though Russia denied responsibility. After seeking medical treatment abroad, he returned to Russia in 2021. He was subsequently arrested and incarcerated in a Russian penal colony, where he died in 2024.
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