US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described a European report blaming Russia for Alexei Navalny's death as troubling, stating that Washington has no reason to question its findings. The report from five European nations confirmed the presence of a rare toxin in Navalny's body. Rubio made these comments during a news conference in Bratislava, Slovakia.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed a joint statement issued by Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands regarding the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The European allies announced that analyses of samples from Navalny's body conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin derived from poison dart frogs native to South America and not found naturally in Russia. They attributed his killing to this substance while he was held in an Arctic penal colony.
Rubio, speaking at a news conference in Bratislava during a visit to Slovakia, called the report troubling. "We obviously are aware of the report. It’s a troubling report. We’re aware of that case of Mr. Navalny and certainly… we don’t have any reason to question it," he told reporters.
Navalny died in February 2024 in the Arctic prison colony, where he was serving sentences for extremism and other charges, all of which he denied. The Russian government has repeatedly rejected any responsibility for his death and dismissed the European allegations as "a Western propaganda hoax," according to Russia's state news agency TASS.
When questioned about why the United States did not sign onto the joint statement, Rubio explained that it was an initiative coordinated by the European countries based on their intelligence. "Those countries came to that conclusion. They coordinated that. We chose – doesn’t mean we disagree with the outcome. We just, it wasn’t, our endeavor," he said. He added, "We’re not disputing or getting into a fight with these countries over it. But it was their report, and they put that out there."
This development highlights ongoing tensions between Western nations and Russia over Navalny's case, which has drawn international scrutiny since his death two years ago.
