77

Russia killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny using dart frog toxin, UK says

To be honest, by the time they put him up in a prison in Siberia, subjected to sleep deprivation, cold, exhaustion, beatings, lack of medical care, probably terrible food, and other inmates, I'm not sure why they needed clandestine frog poison. Or maybe with all this he was still clinging on?

There were early reports that he was basically so weakened from such treatment that he went into cardiac arrest after another beating.in the cold, which to my untrained ear sounded completely sufficient. If that wasn't, I'm sure they could find some other inmates and get them to beat Navalny to death, maybe even with some story how they might be crooks but can't stand a traitor. Or something else equally heartwarming.

Either way, what a lovely country.

6 hours agorich_sasha

Strange lot the Russian government. I don't think any others go around trying to find elaborate ways to poison people except maybe North Korea?

3 hours agotim333

North Korea just executes political prisoners without trial in the town, and crowds watch. Read escapee accounts. It’s harrowing

3 hours agostogot

> By using this form of poison the Russian state demonstrated the despicable tools it has at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition

Just like with Litvinenko this is supposed to be traceable back to Russian government. He could have fallen down the stairs or fallen on a knife backwards a few times in a row. This is a message to everyone who wants to defy them.

6 hours agordtsc

what evidence do you exactly refer for supposition inclined?

6 hours agodlahoda

The window safety incident statistics for Moscow ;)

5 hours agogmerc

Obviously this is different than Litvinenko. Someone smuggled synthetic venom into a prison in Russia. Was it a failure of Russian security, or a success?

6 hours agosigwinch

> what evidence do you exactly refer for supposition inclined

What evidence do you need for supposition?

6 hours agordtsc
[deleted]
5 hours ago

Bro, lay off the translator. Nobody talks like that, you won’t buy your ticket out of Russia this way.

6 hours agowiseowise

No, it's an ice axe.

Source: trust me bro

3 hours agonamelosw

[dead]

6 hours agoJohnnyLarue

[flagged]

7 hours agosuperkuh

The use of exotic means actually places a signature on the work.

Plausible deniability is avoided, so that a clear example is presented for other would-be challengers.

6 hours agoodyssey7

I was going to post the same but it's not part of this discussion. However, I agree. There are clear parallels.

7 hours agoMisterTea

[flagged]

6 hours agometalman

[flagged]

6 hours agovbezhenar

Navalny, wasn't that the heroic fighter for human rights who said people from the North Caucucus were cockroaches, then mimicked a gun with his fingers saying what he would like to do with them?

An obvious hero of western liberals fighting for human rights and democracy.

How is this cause of death verified? Someone claims they smuggled samples from his body and sent them to two labs in other countries? Sounds like quite a solid and anonymous chain of custody, rock solid proof.

6 hours agoregularization

Those are indeed nationalist overtones that work in Russia. Close Western observers don’t ignore Navalny’s early nationalist statements and marches. I wonder if it’s the easiest path out of obscurity nowadays.

6 hours agosigwinch

I don't think that was the framing, it was more of a political alternative - even with all it's flaws it was a more viable than the current collapsing regime.

Now look at what Russians are facing, the end of the federation at the hands of a corrupt elite with an accelerated demographic collapse and economic ruin... And they can't even back out of the war because it will crumble the rest.

The biggest tragedy is dragging Ukrainians into this...

3 hours agolibertine

Why does the UK have the body? Was missing from the article.

7 hours agoipsum2

It is explained in the article:

> In September last year, Navalnaya said analysis of smuggled biological samples carried out by laboratories in two countries showed that her husband had been "murdered".

Did you read it?

7 hours agoMisterTea

The UK doesn't have the body.

7 hours agogib444

I was puzzled for a bit about why this was the top story on the BBC right now — after all, they reported on Navalny's death two years ago, and on the results of some laboratory tests suggesting poisoning last September — until I realized that this isn't a story about Navalny, or even about the possible/likely cause of his death, but rather about a statement by the UK Foreign Secretary, that little "UK says" part in the end of the title.

6 hours agoazangru

No, this is a joint statement during the Munich Security Conference. Perhaps its timing is useful to remind Kremlin sympathizers about who they’ve chosen to bed.