The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says fresh laboratory tests have confirmed what she and his allies have long alleged: that he was poisoned while imprisoned in Russia. Yulia Navalnaya, who has been living abroad since her husband’s death earlier this year, released a video this week announcing that biological samples secretly smuggled out of Russia had been analyzed by two independent laboratories. Both, she said, reached the same conclusion — Navalny was poisoned.

A Poison That Mimics A Heart Attack

Yulia Navalnaya 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.” Navalny, 47, died suddenly on February 16, 2024, while being held in a prison 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Russian officials quickly attributed his death to a mix of health problems, including heart arrhythmia triggered by hypertension. The Kremlin dismissed any suggestion of foul play as absurd.

The Kremlin Remains Suspect

Explanations from the Kremlin were met with skepticism from Navalny’s supporters, who have accused Russian authorities of killing him and then attempting to conceal the circumstances. The latest claims from Navalnaya intensify those suspicions. She also revealed that surveillance footage from her husband’s final day — despite his being under near-constant monitoring — had vanished.

An Agonizing Death

Navalny’s allies have released photos said to show the cell where he died. The images depict a cramped room with vomit and blood visible on the floor, alongside a notebook and an English dictionary. Leonid Volkov, a close associate, wrote that Navalny had been “murdered in an agonising way, with poison.” The details echo earlier reporting by the investigative outlet The Insider, which obtained what it said were original medical records from the day of Navalny’s death. According to those records, Navalny had complained of severe abdominal pain, began vomiting, suffered convulsions, and lost consciousness — all potential signs of poisoning. A later version of the report, apparently edited, omitted those symptoms, instead supporting the state’s claim that he died of cardiac failure.

Not The First Time, Not The Last

Navalny’s death has drawn comparisons to a long line of Kremlin critics who have been targeted with toxins. Alexander Litvinenko died in London in 2006 after ingesting radioactive polonium. In 2018, former spy Sergei Skripal survived a nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England. Navalny himself nearly died in 2020 after what German doctors determined was a poisoning with novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent. He was airlifted to Berlin, recovered, and returned to Russia in 2021, where he was arrested and given the first of several prison sentences that would have added up to more than 30 years.