Sigma Live

Rubio on Navalny Poisoning: "We Don't Dispute the European Report"

Published February 15, 2026, 17:10
Rubio on Navalny Poisoning: "We Don't Dispute the European Report"

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated today that he is "troubled" by the report from five European allies accusing Russia of murdering Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with a poisonous toxin from a frog, adding that Washington has no reason to dispute it. "Obviously we are aware of the report. It's a concerning report. We are aware of the Mr. Navalny case and certainly...we have no reason to dispute it," Rubio said at a press conference in Bratislava where he arrived for a visit. In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said yesterday that analyses of samples from Navalny’s body definitively confirm the presence of atibatoxin, a toxin found in poisonous frogs from South America and not in natural form in Russia. The Russian government, which has repeatedly denied any involvement in Navalny’s death two years ago while he was imprisoned in an Arctic Circle penal colony, dismissed the report’s findings as a "Western hoax," according to Russian state news agency TASS. Asked why the US is not signing the report, Rubio responded that it was an effort by these specific countries. "These countries came to that conclusion. They coordinated that. We chose- Doesn’t mean that we disagree with the outcome. It just wasn’t our effort. Sometimes certain countries proceed based on information from their intelligence services they have gathered. We don't dispute it, nor do we engage in disputes with those countries because of it. But it’s their report and they released it (at the Munich conference)," Rubio concluded.