U.S.–Russia and NATO Relations

Five European governments — the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands — said forensic tests “conclusively confirmed” the presence of epibatidine, a highly potent neurotoxin originally found in South American poison‑dart frogs that does not occur naturally in Russia and was likely synthesized or imported, and have referred Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for an alleged breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention. European officials said the finding points to state culpability and that Russia, as jailer, had the means, motive and opportunity; Navalny’s widow and mother demanded justice, while the Kremlin called the report biased Western propaganda and reiterated that he died of natural causes.