Russia killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny using dart frog toxin, UK says | Hacker News Reader

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

bbc.com

90 pointstartoran31 comments

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.

He was killed because the US and Russia had agreed on an exchange very important for Putin, but he could not afford to have Navalny part of the exchange.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/26/vladimir-putin...

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?

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

I mentioned North Korea thinking of them killing Kim Jong Un's brother by having girls put VX nerve agent on his face.

CIA built a silent "heart attack gun" that uses shellfish toxin and ice. You won't even know you've been shot but you'll die of a heart attack within minutes

I went into a rabbit hole reading after your comment. It seems the toxin in question (saxitoxin) is not secreted by the fish, but concentrated from contaminated food, usually algae.

The toxin weakens, but doesn't paralyze the heart, contrary to the respiratory system. Proper respiratory aid will help you regain full function after a few hours/days, as the toxin is excreted in the urine unchanged. There is no known antidote, or method to accelerate excretion.

So the heart attack gun would be thwarted by timely but common medical care, but maybe they have better toxins these days.

https://archive.ph/2026.02.14-141215/https://www.bbc.com/new...

Navalny should never have returned to Russia. He already was poisoned once before by Russia with a nerve agent in 2020. It was insane that he returned, only to get locked up, then murdered.

He wanted to be a martyr. I hope it works out in the long run for him

At this point it is pretty clear it did not. TBH it was relatively clear since the lack of rioting after the first poisoning.

> 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.

what evidence do you exactly refer for supposition inclined?

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

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?

> what evidence do you exactly refer for supposition inclined

What evidence do you need for supposition?

The window safety incident statistics for Moscow ;)

"Suspicious Russia-related deaths since 2022" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_Russia-related_deat...

In Russia, always request request a windowless office...

No, it's an ice axe.

Source: trust me bro

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.

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.

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...

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

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?

The UK doesn't have the body.

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.

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.

>Perhaps its timing is useful to remind Kremlin sympathizers about who they’ve chosen to bed.

Cui bono then? Talking about the claim about poisoning, not the death itself.

At this security conference, Zelenskyy was able to talk about the secrecy of the Anchorage meeting last August. Putin dominated that meeting; mostly without an interpreter. And there was no ceasefire, no progress from Europe’s point of view, so security observers must conclude that Russia prefers the status quo and directed Trump to do the same.

If the US Secretary of State is going to tell Europe about Russia, they reminded him that Spicy/Venomous Pepe memes have escaped.

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