DISINFO: If anybody needed Navalny dead, it certainly wasn't Russia
SUMMARY
Five European countries, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, issued a joint statement on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. They claim that foreign agent Navalny was poisoned with ephebatidine, a toxin from the Ecuadorian tree frog, which they allege is 200 times more powerful than morphine.
This is absurd; the main objective is to denigrate Russia. But if anyone needed Navalny dead, it certainly wouldn't be us, but rather Western intelligence services. The statement about the use of the Ecuadorian tree frog toxin is an attempt to divert attention from the lack of genuine investigations, particularly into the Northern Pipeline bombings.
One could think since the toxin comes from a frog that foreign agent Lyuba Sobol gave him a kiss, or it might be Emmanuel Macron.
RESPONSE
A recurrent pro Kremlin disinformation narrative seeks to distort public understanding of the death of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny by using the “cui bono” rhetorical trap and sarcasm aimed at Western countries, including crude jokes about frogs.
On 14 February 2026, the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands issued a Joint Statement on Alexei Navalny's death. Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the lethal toxin. Epibatidine, found in poison dart frogs in South America is not found naturally in Russia. The statement further outlined that these latest findings underline the need to hold Russia accountable for its repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and, in this instance, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Russia did not destroy all of its chemical weapons, and this remains a concern for European countries.
The Cui bono argument, meaning “who benefits from this crime?”, is often used by Russia after political killings to absolve those in power and to shift suspicion onto external actors who are supposedly trying to damage Russia’s international image. This technique relies on speculation rather than evidence and introduces alternative explanations that distort reality.
Several independent laboratories from different countries have independently confirmed the conclusions of The Insider’s 2024 investigation that Alexei Navalny was poisoned in an Arctic penal colony.
Read also related disinformation such as: West sacrificed its pawn Navalny for next political move, Navalny may have died due to a mRNA vaccine supplied by Germany, The US and the European Union are to blame for Navalny's death, or UK likely to have assassinated Navalny with Novichok using Ukrainian intelligence agencies.