Moscow rejects new allegations in Navalny's death case

Russia has rejected the latest allegations of the murder of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, calling them "Western propaganda fraud."

According to TASS, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow would comment further only after the test results were published. Until then, she said, it was just propaganda designed to divert attention from the West's problems.

The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands said in a joint statement that they are convinced that Navalny was poisoned with a deadly toxin. They reached this conclusion based on an analysis of samples taken after his death in a penal colony two years ago.

According to the statement released in London, tests confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a powerful toxin found in poisonous frogs in South America and not naturally occurring in Russia. The five countries also expressed concern that Russia had not destroyed all its chemical weapons stockpiles.

(reuters, lud)