Rubio Says U.S. Does Not Dispute Navalny Poisoning Assessment By Europeans

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the United States has no reason to dispute a joint European assessment blaming Russia for the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Speaking at a news conference in Bratislava during a visit to Slovakia, Rubio described the report as “troubling” and said Washington was aware of its findings. “We obviously are aware of the report. It’s a troubling report. We’re aware of that case of Mr. Navalny and certainly… we don’t have any reason to question it,” Rubio told reporters.

In a joint statement released Saturday, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, and Netherlands said laboratory analyses of samples from Navalny’s body “conclusively” confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin derived from poison dart frogs native to South America and not naturally found in Russia.

The Russian government has repeatedly denied responsibility for Navalny’s death. According to Russia’s state news agency TASS, officials dismissed the latest allegations as “a Western propaganda hoax.”

When asked why the United States did not join the European statement, Rubio said it was an initiative led by those countries. “Those countries came to that conclusion. They coordinated that. We chose – doesn’t mean we disagree with the outcome. We just, it wasn’t our endeavor,” he said. “Sometimes countries go out and do their thing based on the intelligence they’ve gathered.”

“We’re not disputing or getting into a fight with these countries over it. But it was their report, and they put that out there,” Rubio added.

Navalny, a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024 after being convicted on extremism and other charges, which he denied. His death sparked international condemnation and renewed scrutiny of Moscow’s treatment of political opponents.