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Cooper says UK and European allies have 'exposed barbaric Kremlin plot'
Speaking to Sky’s Trevor Phillips from Munich, Yvette Cooper said for the two years since the announcement of Navalny’s death, work has taken place among European partners “on pursuing the evidence and pursuing the truth”. The UK’s foreign secretary said:
And that is why we have together found the evidence of this lethal toxin that was found in Alexei Navalny’s body at time he died.
And only the Russian regime had the motive, the means and the opportunity to administer this lethal posion while he was in prison in Russia.
They wanted to silence him because he was a critic of their regime and that is why we have exposed this barbaric Kremlin plot to do so and made sure that we have done so with evidence as well.
The reason as well that we have done this is was one of the things that Alexei Navalny himself said that. He said ‘tell the truth, spread the truth, that is the most dangerous weapon of all’. The Russian regime tried to stop him doing so, so we have done so instead.
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Yvette Cooper is asked in her Sky News interview whether she agrees with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s assessment that the supposed rules-based world order has collapsed.
The foreign secretary acknowledges huge political instability around the world, economic shifts, driven by the rise of China and protectionism, and marks the Russian aggression as a “persistent” threat that Europe has to face up to.
She also acknowlegded that the US is “changing their focus” and will reduce funding for European security, which means Europe has to “step up to the plate” in defending itself.
You can keep up with the latest lines from Europe in our Munich Security Conference blog helmed by the brilliant Jakub Krupa.
Patrick Wintour
Patrick Wintour is diplomatic editor for the Guardian
The intelligence agencies claimed laboratory testing found that the deadly toxin in the skin of Ecuador dart frogs (epibatidine) was found in samples from Navalny’s body and probably resulted in his death.
The statement adds: “Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin to target Navalny during his imprisonment in a Russian penal colony in Siberia, and we hold it responsible for his death.”
“Epibatidine can be found naturally in dart frogs in the wild in South America. Dart frogs in captivity do not produce this toxin and it is not found naturally in Russia. There is no innocent explanation for its presence in Navalny’s body.”
Although it had been widely assumed that Navalny had been poisoned by the Russian state, the evidence of the specific poison in his body is a new development.
His wife, Yulia Navalny, posted in September that there was evidence of poison in his body at the time an autopsy was conducted. You can read the full story here:
Cooper says UK and European allies have 'exposed barbaric Kremlin plot'
Speaking to Sky’s Trevor Phillips from Munich, Yvette Cooper said for the two years since the announcement of Navalny’s death, work has taken place among European partners “on pursuing the evidence and pursuing the truth”. The UK’s foreign secretary said:
And that is why we have together found the evidence of this lethal toxin that was found in Alexei Navalny’s body at time he died.
And only the Russian regime had the motive, the means and the opportunity to administer this lethal posion while he was in prison in Russia.
They wanted to silence him because he was a critic of their regime and that is why we have exposed this barbaric Kremlin plot to do so and made sure that we have done so with evidence as well.
The reason as well that we have done this is was one of the things that Alexei Navalny himself said that. He said ‘tell the truth, spread the truth, that is the most dangerous weapon of all’. The Russian regime tried to stop him doing so, so we have done so instead.
Foreign secretary to face questions after UK said Russia killed Navalny with frog toxin
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. The British foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, is speaking to Sky News this morning, a day after the UK said the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin administered by the Russian state two years ago.
The assessmnet was made from the foreign ministries of the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands after analysis of material samples found on Nalvany’s body.
The European countries said they were reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
In February 2024, Navalny, who was a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in a remote Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that were widely seen as politically motivated.
Speaking from the Munich Security Conference, Cooper said: “Only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia.”
Moscow has reportedly dismissed the assessmnent as “an information campaign”. Stick with us as we give you the latest.
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