Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been killed by a deadly toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America, the United Kingdom and several of its European allies have announced. According to the Foreign Office, samples taken from Navalny’s body contained traces of epibatidine, a rare neurotoxin that most likely caused his death two years ago.
Western allies have said that only the Russian state had the “means, motive and opportunity” to use the deadly toxin. The Kremlin has dismissed these claims as an “information campaign,” according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
WHAT IS EPIBATIDINE?
Epibatidine is a natural neurotoxin isolated from the skin of the Ecuadorian poison dart frog, known as Anthony’s poison arrow frog. According to toxicology expert Jill Johnson, this substance is about 200 times more potent than morphine.
It is found naturally in some species of frogs in South America, but can also be produced in the laboratory. According to a statement from European allies, captive frogs do not produce this toxin and it is not found naturally in Russia.
Species that secrete epibatidine through their skin include the Phantasmal poison frog. Although epibatidine has been studied as a pain reliever and for the treatment of inflammatory lung diseases, it is not used in clinical practice due to its high toxicity.
HOW DOES POISON WORK?
Epibatidine acts on nicotinic receptors in the nervous system. According to Johnson, it overstimulates these receptors, causing muscle tremors, paralysis, convulsions, slowed heart rate, respiratory failure and, ultimately, death.
Alastair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, told PA Media that its effects can lead to respiratory arrest, adding that “every person poisoned dies from suffocation.”
According to him, the presence of the toxin in a person’s blood “suggests intentional administration.” He also noted that epibatidine’s toxicity may be increased if combined with other drugs, combinations that have been studied in laboratory conditions.
HOW RARE IS THIS TOXIN?
Experts describe epibatidine as extremely rare, as it is found only in a specific geographical Region and in very small quantities. The frog mentioned in the British statements is believed to be an endemic species in Ecuador and Peru. It produces the substance through the specific food it consumes, which contains alkaloids, organic compounds that accumulate in the skin. Changing the diet leads to a decrease in epibatidine reserves.
According to Johnson, “finding a wild frog in the right place, fed exactly the right food to produce the right alkaloids, is almost impossible.” She added that cases of epibatidine poisoning are extremely rare and that the only cases known to her have occurred in the laboratory and have not been fatal.
RUSSIA’S REACTION
According to the allies’ statement, European laboratories have confirmed that Navalny died as a result of this rare toxin. Earlier, Russian authorities claimed that he died of natural causes, while his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, insisted that he was “murdered” through poisoning. The Russian embassy in London denied Moscow’s involvement and described the report as “Western fantasy” and “necro-propaganda.” Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, quoted by TASS, declared that it was an “information campaign aimed at diverting attention from the West’s pressing problems.”
British chemical weapons expert and former senior UK and NATO official Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme that the Kremlin’s claims should be taken “with a grain of salt”, adding that NATO countries have presented evidence that Navalny was killed by the state. At the time of his death, Navalny had been in prison for three years and had recently been transferred to a penal colony in the Arctic. According to Russian authorities, the 47-year-old had been taking a short walk, felt unwell and collapsed, never regaining consciousness. (CNN)