What is Novichok? Alexei Navalny’s wife claims nerve agent killed her husband, blames Putin for his death

On Monday, the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, declared that Novichok, a nerve agent, was the cause of his death. In a video message, Yulia Navalnaya promised to carry on her husband's work and fight for a free Russia, accusing President Vladimir Putin of killing him.

Navalnaya also claimed that the Russian government had concealed Alexei’s body and was only waiting for Novichok residue to vanish from it. According to Standard, she stated in a video:

"I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia. I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny."

As per Britannica, Novichok is a class of organophosphate compounds intended for use as chemical warfare weapons. Organophosphate compounds can mostly be found in herbicides and insecticides.

These compounds function as nerve agents. Originally, Novichok poisons were produced from venomous and deadly chemicals. They are also extremely toxic.

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Alexei Navalny’s wife claimed that Novichok, the lethal nerve agent, killed her husband

Alexei Navalny’s wife claimed that her husband was poisoned (Image via Pexels)

As per sources like LiveMint, on Monday, February 19, the wife of prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, claimed that the Kremlin, a military regiment of Russia, was concealing Alexei’s body to hide his murder in the Arctic prison camp. She then pledged to carry on her late husband's battle against President Vladimir Putin after the unfortunate incident.

According to NBC News, before meeting with the foreign ministers of the European Union in Brussels, 47-year-old Navalnaya made the claims in a video, where she said:

"Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband."

As per the same source, she went on to state that officials were watching for signs of "yet another Putin's Novichok" to disappear from his body. Novichok is a military nerve agent that was allegedly used to poison him years ago.

As per the National Library of Medicine, Novichok is a covert group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the latter stages of the Cold War. They are organophosphorus chemicals, which are primarily used in pesticides and insecticides.

They are intended to be undetectable and incurable. This type of nerve agent is also severely toxic. However, not much is known about the nature of nerve agents itself.

Novichok agents stop the nervous system's cholinergic neurotransmitter from being destroyed. These agents are thought to be more potent than VX gas. They generate a cholinergic toxidrome and target the peripheral nervous system neurons. They permanently cripple the victim by causing irreversible nerve damage and then eventually cause their death.

Moreover, according to Britannica, in 2020, anti-corruption politician and Russian lawyer Alexei Navalny fell ill on a trip from Tomsk to Moscow. His illness exhibited symptoms of food poisoning. However, as per the source, Novichok was allegedly involved in the matter.

German medical professionals then contacted the experts in chemical weapons after he was transported to Berlin for treatment. Numerous labs verified the presence of nerve agents and validated the identification of chemical agents after examining his skin, urine, and blood samples.

Later that year, Navalny was unintentionally informed by a Russian secret service agent that Novichok had been used in the attack. Nonetheless, the Russian authorities refuted any responsibility for Navalny's Novichok poisoning.

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The remarks of Alexei Navalny's wife followed the claims of Navalny's team that his mother and solicitors had been refused access to his body and that the investigation into what killed him had been prolonged.

On the other hand, according to NBC, the Kremlin has refuted claims that Putin was responsible for his death and denied any role in the poisoning.