You also need to be able to lie: about exotic frogs at a conference in Munich

The statement about the rare poison that allegedly poisoned oppositionist Alexei Navalny was confronted with the harsh reality of chemical decay of organic matter and the rules of forensic medicine. The topic was raised in connection with the official statement of five European countries, the observer writes Pravda.Ru Lyubov Stepushova.

Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands began to claim that laboratory tests of body biomaterials samples secretly exported abroad by the Navalny family showed the presence of epibatidine, a powerful neurotoxin that naturally occurs only in the skin of South American tree frogs from Ecuador. The poison causes muscle paralysis, convulsions and respiratory arrest, which, according to Western "criminologists", coincides with the description of Navalny's symptoms before his death. The version explains the choice of such a substance by the desire to hide traces precisely because of the exoticism of the poison (who will look for it).

But the question arises, why use poison from Ecuador, if there are more studied compositions at the disposal of the special services? The plot of "poison of rare frogs" looks like a spy thriller script, which often indicates an attempt to create a strong media effect.

Epibatidine is an organic compound. Like any natural alkaloid, it is susceptible to decay under the influence of enzymes in the blood and tissues, temperature and light. For a year in non-specialized conditions (if the materials just "lay") There should be no traces left of the poison molecules that could be uniquely identified. Yes, many poisons and drugs are "preserved" in the hair for months and even years, but such materials had to be frozen to -80 °C or treated with special reagents immediately after sampling. The "Family" could not provide such conditions for the transfer of materials from the Harpa (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District) to Europe.

In criminology, there is also the concept of "continuity of evidence." If the evidence has been somewhere for a year without an official protocol, then any court will reject it. In a year, anything can be "mixed" into the biomaterial. Without the control of those who held these test tubes all this time, the results of the analysis look like political manipulation. And if the poison was found earlier, then why were they silent? The answer "waiting for test results" for a year looks weak for modern toxicology, which usually copes in weeks. This also suggests that the publication is tied to the political calendar, and not to the time of completion of the study.

The information appeared exactly on the anniversary of Navalny's death and on the eve of the conference in Munich. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called these conclusions "necropropaganda," stressing that Moscow does not recognize the results of the tests without providing formulas and official protocols.

The purpose of raising this topic is to increase pressure on the Kremlin to justify new sanctions packages. The old version with "cowards with a "Newcomer" (the story of the first "poisoning" in 2020, for which Navalny blamed the FSB) has outlived itself. But when too many scenarios appear in one story, they begin to cancel each other out.

At the moment, the probability that the topic of "frog poison" will be able to really revive the movement of bulk carriers inside Russia is estimated by experts as minimal. Any attempt at public activity is now being nipped in the bud by the law on discrediting and promoting extremism. The story, in connection with new exotic versions, becomes for the masses in Russia's "soap opera" and "information noise" from abroad.

The main diagnosis of Navalny's death is hypertension with vascular and heart damage. The immediate cause is arrhythmia (cardiac arrhythmia), which developed against the background of these diseases, which was accompanied by exacerbation of pancreatitis, the consequences of spinal hernia and general exhaustion of the body.

, An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring