MOSCOW – Moscow is calling on five European nations to back up their accusations with hard evidence after they claimed Russia poisoned opposition figure Alexei Navalny using a toxin derived from South American dart frogs, according to statements made Wednesday by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Over the weekend, officials from Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands announced that laboratory testing of biological samples taken from Navalny had detected epibatidine – a poisonous compound naturally occurring in South American poison dart frogs that does not exist in Russia’s environment. The European officials stated that Russia possessed the “means, motive and opportunity” to poison the Kremlin opponent with this substance.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Zakharova dismissed the European claims as lacking substance. “All the accusations against Russia were of the ‘highly likely’ variety. There were no specific details. It was purely a proclamation to become the opening act of the Munich (security) conference and to overshadow the Epstein files,” she stated.
“We demand they hand over concrete data on this issue,” Zakharova added.
Russian government officials have completely denied the European allegations, while Yulia Navalnaya, whose husband was the deceased opposition leader, stated that the real circumstances surrounding her spouse’s death have now been revealed.
