The Council of the European Union on Friday announced sanctions targeting six scientists and researchers suspected of involvement in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“The EU remains fully committed to combating the proliferation and use of chemical weapons,” read the Council statement. The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans to the EU.
Navalny, long seen as a staunch political rival of President Vladimir Putin, died in a Russian prison in 2024. According to five European governmentspoison was “most likely the cause of his death,” as the analysis of samples from Navalny’s body “fully confirmed” the presence of epibatidine – a poison from a dart frog.
The scientists targeted by the EU sanctions worked in the military field, and have conducted research and published articles on the synthesis of epibatidine. They worked at the Signals Scientific Center and the Russian State Research Institute of Chemistry and Organic Technology, a key part of Russia’s Chemical Weapons program, according to the statement.
Navalny was survived the poison test in 2020which he said was carried out by Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, although Russia denied involvement. After leaving his country for medical treatment, he returned in 2021. He was then arrested and sent to a Russian penal colony, where he died in 2024.
