Britain has placed sanctions on two Russian research institutes, along with several of their senior staff, accusing them of ties to Moscow's chemical weapons programme and involvement in creating the toxins used against opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The move was announced on Monday and comes just before world leaders gather for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. It also follows a similar round of sanctions recently introduced by the European Union.
1 hour Ago By Kamil Wrona
The Navalny Case and Its Background
Navalny first fell gravely ill back in 2020 while on a flight over Siberia. Laboratories in the West later determined that he had been exposed to Novichok, a category of military-grade nerve agent originally developed in the Soviet era. Then, in 2024, Navalny died after being poisoned with Epibatidine, a toxin naturally found in poison dart frogs, according to findings from Britain and several European partners. Russia has consistently rejected any responsibility for his death.
According to the British government, the individuals and institutions now under sanction were directly involved in producing both the Novichok agent and Epibatidine. Foreign minister Yvette Cooper stated that Russia's ongoing use of chemical weapons breaks international law and poses a danger to global security. She pointed to a pattern stretching from the Novichok attack in Salisbury to the poisoning of Navalny in Siberia, saying Russia continues to rely on brutal methods to harm innocent people, including in the context of the war in Ukraine.
Russia's embassy in London pushed back strongly, posting on Telegram that it completely denies the claims and calling them nothing more than slander. The embassy argued that such accusations are being used to manufacture a false narrative about a Russian threat in order to justify tension with Moscow.
Echoes of the Skripal Attack
This isn't the first time Novichok has been linked to an attack on British soil. Back in 2018, the nerve agent was used against former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. Both survived, but the incident had a tragic aftermath: a local woman, Dawn Sturgess, died after accidentally coming into contact with a discarded container of the substance.
A public inquiry in Britain concluded last year that President Vladimir Putin himself must have authorized the operation, which was reportedly carried out by GRU intelligence agents. Russia has repeatedly denied any connection to the Skripal case, describing the allegations as anti-Russian propaganda.
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