Yvette Cooper may think so, and use of epibatidine may seem exotic, but experts say situation is more ambiguous
It was a very particular choice of weapon, but experts say it remains unclear whether the dart frog toxin used to kill the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was intended to convey a message.
Known as epibatidine, the poison is produced by wild dart frogs native to parts of South America – meaning Navalny could not have accidentally taken the poison.
“Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin to target Navalny during his imprisonment in a Russian penal colony in Siberia, and we hold it responsible for his death,” the UK government has stated.
Epibatidine was certainly an efficient choice: it is a powerful painkiller thought to be hundreds of times more potent than morphine and can cause muscle paralysis.
