Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death in an Arctic penal colony in February is suspected to have been caused by poisoning, an investigation by the independent media outlet The Insider has revealed.
The Insider said in a September 30 report that it reviewed "hundreds of official documents" related to the case, revealing two contradictory accounts of his death.
One version said after leaving his prison cell for a walk, Navalny lay on the ground, complaining of stomach pain and began vomiting and convulsing before losing consciousness.
This account was altered in a version provided to his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, in August, which only mentioned a "sharp decline in health" and described the cause of death as "arrhythmia" due to a "combination of illnesses", the report said.
Dr Alexander Polupan, who treated Navalny in a Siberian hospital after he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, said arrhythmia would not explain the abdominal pain, vomiting and convulsions. These symptoms could "hardly be explained by anything other than poisoning", the report quoted him as saying.
Also read: Navalny Death: The poisoner’s recipe for making history
The Insider also cited "vomit samples" listed in a document that mentioned items collected by investigators which were sent for examination.
There was no mention of vomit in the final documents. The publication said authorities "deliberately removed any mention of symptoms that did not fit the official narrative" and highlighted other factors such as the initial refusal of the penal colony to hand over Navalny’s body for burial, as evidence of attempts to conceal the true cause of his death.
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Navalnaya has accused authorities of withholding details about her husband’s death, saying he complained of stomach pain before collapsing in prison. She said the arrhythmia diagnosis was as an “act of mockery” and a “pathetic attempt” to cover up his murder.
Months before his death, Navalny had feared being poisoned. His former lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, recounted a visit in April 2023 in which Navalny said, "Listen, I don't want to come across as paranoid, but I think they're trying to poison me." Mikhailova posted her concerns on X and filed several complaints.
A prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny died on February 16.
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