Russia 'killed Navalny with dart frog poison'

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison in Russia after being poisoned with a deadly toxin found in the skin of Ecuadorian dart frogs, the UK and other allies have revealed.

The "barbaric" act - using a neurotoxin that is classed as a chemical weapon - could only have been carried out by Vladimir Putin's government, they said on Saturday. The poisoning "highly likely" resulted in Mr Navalny's death in 2024.

Moscow dismisses allegations - latest Sky News understands it is likely the toxin was manufactured in a laboratory rather than actually taken from the frogs. It is not clear how the frog poison - called epibatidine - was allegedly administered to the dissident, who had been in a penal colony in Siberia when he died almost exactly two years ago.

Indigenous tribes in South America are said to use the toxin in blow darts or blowguns when they hunt. The poison - described as "one of the deadliest on earth" - is 200 times stronger than morphine.

It causes paralysis, breathing difficulties and death. Yulia Navalnaya, the Russian dissident's widow, appeared at a press conference on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich to announce the discovery, flanked by the foreign ministers of the UK, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The four countries and France have been working together to establish how Mr Navalny, 47, died. They plan to submit their findings to the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

"It is hard for me to find the right words," Mrs Navalnya said in English, looking visibly upset. She had been at the Munich Security Conference when the news of her husband's death broke on 16 February 2024.

"It was the most horrible day in my life. I came to the stage and I said my husband, Alexei Navalny, was poisoned.

What could else happen with Putin's number one enemy in a Russian prison? "But now I understand and I know it is not just words. It is scientific proof." Russian authorities have previously claimed the dissident's death was not suspicious but had been caused as a result of "combined diseases.