Navalny's widow says lab tests confirm he was killed with poison while imprisoned

The widow of the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, yesterday said two foreign laboratories had confirmed he was poisoned.

- Pjotr Sauer

Navalny, 47, died suddenly in February 2024 while in a jail about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

The Kremlin has dismissed allegations by Navalny’s allies that it killed him as absurd. Russian officials insist he died of a mixture of diseases, including heart arrhythmia triggered by hypertension.

Yulia Navalnaya, who lives abroad, posted a video on X in which she said biological material from her husband was smuggled abroad last year and examined by two laboratories.

Urging the laboratories to release the findings, she said: "These labs in two different countries reached the same conclusion: Alexei was killed. More specifically, he was poisoned.

"These results are of public importance and must be published. We all deserve to know the truth."