Foreign labs found Alexei Navalny poisoned, alleges widow

MOSCOW: The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Wednesday that two foreign laboratories concluded he was poisoned before his death in prison.

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic, died in February 2024 at age 47 while serving a 19-year sentence in an Arctic penal colony. Authorities claimed he fell ill after a walk, offering few other details.

In a video statement, Yulia Navalnaya said samples taken from her husband's body were tested abroad and both labs determined he had been poisoned. She did not disclose the substance or provide direct evidence, citing "political considerations" for the labs' silence.


"These labs in two different countries reached the same conclusion: Alexei was killed. More specifically, he was poisoned," Navalnaya said, showing photos purportedly of his cell with vomit on the floor. She demanded the labs release their results, accusing the West of appeasing Putin.