The United States says it is not disputing European findings that Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was poisoned with a rare frog toxin as the United Kingdom signals possible new sanctions against Moscow.
According to Al Jazeera, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking during a visit to Slovakia on Sunday, February 15, called the European report “very troubling” and “very serious.”
The UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden on Saturday accused the Russian state of killing Navalny two years ago in a Siberian penal colony.
In a joint statement, the five countries said laboratory analysis of samples from his body found epibatidine, a toxin associated with South American dart frogs, and argued there was no innocent explanation for its presence.
The announcement, made almost exactly two years after Navalny’s death in February 2024, increases pressure on the Kremlin and raises the prospect of further coordinated Western action.
While Washington did not join the European statement, Rubio said the decision did not signal its disagreement.
“We don’t have any reason to question it,” Rubio said, adding that the US was not seeking “a fight” with its European partners over the findings.
The UK warned that it was considering imposing further sanctions on Moscow.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC that the government would “continue to look at coordinated action, including increasing sanctions on the Russian regime.”
The five European nations said epibatidine is not found naturally in Russia and Moscow had the means, motive and opportunity to administer the toxin while Navalny was imprisoned.
