On 16 February 2024, at 14:19 Moscow time (11:19 GMT), the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug announced that Russian opposition activist and political prisoner Alexei Navalny died while serving a 19-year prison sentence in FKU IK-3, a corrective colony in the village of Kharp in the Russian Arctic. Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed his death the next day and demanded his body be returned to his family as soon as possible. The official cause of death per the Russian government was an episode of high blood pressure brought about by a chronic heart arrythmia, but this diagnosis has been disputed by Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya. Navalny was 47 years old when he died.
Navalny's death spurred numerous protests and gatherings in different countries, including Russia, where hundreds of mourners were detained. Western officials and Russian opposition activists held Russian authorities, including President Vladimir Putin, responsible for his death. US intelligence agencies later concluded that Putin likely did not order Navalny's death. Navalny's funeral was held in Moscow on 1 March 2024, at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows in the Maryino District. He was buried in the Borisovskoye сemetery in the Brateyevo District.
In February 2026, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands released a joint statement saying that Navalny was killed by epibatidine, a deadly toxin found in poison dart frogs, citing tests on samples from his body that "conclusively" confirmed its presence.Adam Goldsmith and Tom McArthur, Russia killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny using dart frog toxin, UK says, BBC news, 14 February 2026. According to Sky News, the toxin was likely made in a laboratory.
Background
Assassination attempt
Alexei Navalny was considered one of the most prominent critics of Russian president Vladimir Putin, having denounced corruption under his regime and unsuccessfully trying to run for president against him in 2018. In 2017, Navalny suffered eye injuries after being assaulted with a green disinfectant by an unknown assailant. In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent and was evacuated to Germany for medical treatment.
In 2021, before returning to Russia, Navalny took part in the filming of the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny. In the film's final sequence, he urged Russians not to give up if he was killed, saying that "this means that we are unusually strong at this moment, since they decided to kill me".
Imprisonment In January 2021, US President Joe Biden warned Putin that Navalny's arrest and possible death would bring "devastating" consequences to Russia. He was imprisoned based on charges of fraud, extremism and violating probation. The European Court of Human Rights ruled on 16 February 2021 that the Russian government should release Navalny immediately, with the court saying that the resolution was made in "regard to the nature and extent of risk to the applicant's life". In December 2020, a series of laws were also passed that gave the Russian Constitution precedence over rulings made by international bodies as well as international treaties. A few days later, a Moscow court rejected Navalny's appeal and upheld his prison sentence, however it reduced his sentence by six weeks after deciding to count his time under house arrest as part of his time served. Another court convicted Navalny on slander charges against a World War II veteran, fining him 850,000 rubles ($11,500).
During his imprisonment, Navalny struggled with health issues and did not consistently receive medical care.
In December 2023 he was transferred from a penal colony east of Moscow to the Polar Wolf colony in Kharp, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in Russia's Far North. The Polar Wolf colony has more harsh conditions, including reported torture of inmates, and according to Novaya Gazeta is reserved for "especially dangerous repeat offenders". On 15 February, the day before his death, he appeared via video link at a court hearing, during which he made jokes and seemed to be in good health. At the time of his death, Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence, and was in solitary confinement for the 27th time, having spent a cumulative 300 days in solitary confinement over the course of his sentence.
Death On 16 February, the Federal Penitentiary Service department for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug published a statement that Navalny lost consciousness after a walk. He was attended by medical workers from the penal colony and an emergency medical team was called. Referring to a statement by representatives of the Labytnangi City Hospital, several Russian state-owned news agencies reported that an ambulance arrived at the scene in less than seven minutes and performed resuscitation measures for more than half an hour. Navalny was not revived, and he was officially reported dead at 14:17 Yekaterinburg Time with reports of his death first appearing in the media at 16:19 Yekaterinburg Time (14:19 MSK). His death was confirmed the next day by his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, citing an official notice delivered to his mother, Lyudmila. Yarmysh also called for his remains to be returned to his family.
An inmate of the Polar Wolf colony noted highly unusual activity at the prison on the evening of 15 February, which seemed to indicate a surprise prison inspection. He stated that the prisoners were locked in their barracks and a search was conducted on the morning of 16 February. The prisoner stated that they were informed about Navalny's death at 10:00, well before the press release on Navalny's death. The prisoner also noted that first aid had only appeared after Navalny was already known to be dead. The prisoner's interpretation of the events was that Navalny had likely died on the evening of 15 February, and that it had been a surprise to prison authorities. According to human rights group Gulagu.net, an official report states that several cameras in the penal colony were inactive on 16 February. Gulagu.net interpreted this as the result of FSB officers arriving at the prison on 14 February and disabling audio and video monitoring equipment. Gulagu.net stated that there were bruises on Navalny's body, which the medical examiner carrying out an autopsy on the body was told to attribute as having occurred post-mortem.
Investigation into death and release of remains The Investigative Committee of Russia announced "a set of investigative and operative measures" into Navalny's death. The Polar Wolf penal colony claimed that it had sent Navalny's body to the morgue in Salekhard, but it was not found there. The Investigative Committee of Russia informed the family that the body would be given to them after the cause of death was determined through an investigation; it had previously told them the investigation was complete. The authorities legally can hold his body for up to 30 days. Yarmysh alleged that the Russian authorities were trying to cover up the truth of his death.
According to Novaya Gazeta, the body was first taken to Labytnangi, then to a clinical morgue in Salekhard on the evening of the 16th. His body had bruises consistent with chest compressions, indicating that it was likely attempts were made to resuscitate Navalny. The independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported that live cam footage recorded a FSIN convoy travelling from Labytnangi to Salekhard on the night of the 16th, and suggested that this convoy was carrying Navalny's body. On the morning of 19 February, Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, and his lawyers attempted to access the morgue where his body is alleged to be located, and were not given access. The Investigative Committee then informed Navalny's team that his remains were sent for a "chemical examination" and would not be returned to the family for another fourteen days. Navalny's wife, Yulia, expressed her belief that authorities were withholding his body while waiting for traces of Novichok to disappear.
On 22 February, Lyudmila Navalnaya released a video message stating that investigators had allowed her to see the body of her son and that she had signed a death certificate that stated that her son had died of natural causes. By law, Navalny's body should have been turned over to his family, but according to Navalnaya, the investigators refused to do so, instead insisting that Navalny be buried in secret or inside the prison grounds if Navalnaya did not agree within several hours. Navalny's remains were finally returned to his mother on 24 February.
On 21 March, a court in Labytnangi rejected a lawsuit filed by Lyudmila Navalnaya accusing authorities of providing inadequate medical care to her son in prison, with Navalny associate Ivan Zhdanov saying that the court ruled that only Alexei Navalny could file the lawsuit, and Yulia Navalnaya saying that the court rejected the lawsuit due to concerns over the release of information regarding his death.
Potential cause Alexander Polupan, a doctor who treated Navalny's earlier poisoning, questioned the rapid timing of medical care, noted that a detached blood clot (a possible cause of death claimed by Russian state media) cannot be verified without an autopsy, and said Navalny had no underlying conditions that would put him at risk of a thromboembolism. His mother was told that he had died from "sudden death syndrome" (an umbrella term for different cardiac syndromes that cause cardiac arrest); his lawyer was told that the cause of death was still unclear.
According to official documents obtained by The Insider, an early version of a report prepared by Investigative Committee of Russia mentioned abdominal pain, vomiting, and convulsions as Navalny's symptoms, which were confirmed by medical experts as clearly indicative of poisoning. However, in the final version of the same document all mention of Navalny's abdominal pain, vomiting, and convulsions was removed, while an inventory of objects taken from the scene of Navalny's death still listed "samples of vomit", which according to the document were submitted for examination, despite the fact that neither the fact of the examination nor Navalny's vomiting had ever been officially reported.
In February 2026, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands released a joint statement saying that Navalny was killed by epibatidine, a deadly toxin found in poison dart frogs, citing tests on samples from his body that "conclusively" confirmed its presence. According to Sky News, the toxin was likely made in a laboratory.
Official cause On 26 July 2024, the Investigative Committee of Russia concluded that Navalny's death "does not have a criminal nature" and was the result of a "combined disease", which included a number of diagnoses: cholecystitis, pancreatitis, intervertebral hernia and others. The judgement states that the death "has an arrhythmogenic character" and the trigger factor was "a critical increase in blood pressure".
Yulia Navalnaya reacted to the official conclusion of death:
According to Navalnaya, her husband did not have any heart disease while alive.
Culpability On 27 April, The Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence agencies had concluded that Putin likely did not order Navalny's death. The assessment, which US intelligence says does not absolve Putin of culpability, was shared by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Department of State. The Journal noted that some European agencies were skeptical of the US assessment, finding it "doubtful that harm could have come to Navalny without the president's prior awareness" in Putin's Russia.
Funeral