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The Council of the European Union announced sanctions on Friday against six scientists and researchers suspected of involvement in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
"The EU remains fully committed to combating the proliferation and use of chemical weapons ," the Council statement said. The sanctions include an asset freeze and a travel ban to the EU.
Navalny, long seen as President Vladimir Putin's most important political opponent, died in a Russian prison in 2024. According to five European governments, poisoning was "highly likely the cause of his death," after analyses of samples from Navalny's body "conclusively confirmed" the presence of epibatidine, a toxin from a poison dart frog.
The scientists targeted by the EU sanctions worked in the military sphere and researched and published articles on the synthesis of epibatidine. They worked for the Signals Scientific Center and the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology of Russia, a central part of the Russian Chemical Weapons program, according to the statement.
Navalny survived a poisoning attempt in 2020, which he said was carried out by Russia's internal security service, the FSB, although Russia denied involvement. After leaving his country for medical care, he returned in 2021. He was arrested and sent to a Russian penal colony, where he died in 2024.
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