Extract from ABC News
Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison in February 2024. (Reuters: Shamil Zhumatov)
In short:
Yulia Navalnaya says new tests from two laboratories show that her husband, Alexei Navalny, was killed by poisoning.
The former Russian opposition leader died in a Russian prison in February 2024.
In a video on X, Ms Navalnaya said "these labs in two different countries reached the same conclusion: Alexei was killed".
The wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says that laboratory analysis of smuggled biological samples found he was killed by poisoning while incarcerated in prison in February 2024.
Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's most formidable critic for years, died in mysterious circumstances while serving a 19-year prison sentence on a string of charges widely seen as retribution for his campaigning.
Before he was buried, his wife Yulia Navalnaya said his allies "were able to obtain and securely transfer biological samples of Alexei abroad".
She posted a video on X in which she said that biological material from Navalny was sent to two laboratories where the material was examined.
"These labs in two different countries reached the same conclusion: Alexei was killed. More specifically, he was poisoned,"Ms Navalnaya said.
Yulia Navalnaya says the new test results prove her husband was poisoned. (Reuters: Blair Gable)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday local time he was unaware of claims made by Yulia Navalnaya that her husband, Alexei Navalny, had been poisoned in a Russian prison.
Ms Navalnaya did not divulge further details of what samples were obtained nor the results of the analysis, but she urged the labs to independently release their results and to specify which poison they believe was used.
Navalny, a charismatic anti-corruption campaigner, had rallied hundreds of thousands across Russia in anti-Kremlin protests as he exposed the alleged ill-gotten gains of Mr Putin's inner circle.
He was previously poisoned in 2020 while campaigning in Siberia and flown to Germany on an emergency evacuation flight, where he spent months recovering.
Jailed upon his return to Russia in January 2021, he was convicted on a series of charges, including "extremism".
From behind bars, he continued to campaign against Mr Putin and spoke out against his invasion of Ukraine.
Russian authorities said he died suddenly on February 16, 2024, after falling ill while outside walking after lunch in his prison colony.
Following Navalny's death, officials refused for days to release his body to his relatives, raising suspicions among his followers.
Ms Navalnaya has always maintained that her husband was killed on Putin's orders. The Kremlin denies the charges.
AFP/Reuters
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