Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Jul 14, 2025

Navalny says Russian agent has admitted to role in death plot

Navalny says Russian agent has admitted to role in death plot

One of the operatives allegedly involved in the attempt to kill Alexei Navalny has confessed to his role in the plot, and has revealed that the Russian opposition leader was apparently poisoned via his underwear.
Navalny phoned two members of the team from Russia’s FSB spy agency, which allegedly tried to murder him. One recognised him immediately and hung up. The second operative, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, was seemingly duped into thinking he was talking to an aide working for a top FSB general.

The call was made hours before the investigative website Bellingcat published details last week of the eight FSB officers who allegedly poisoned Navalny.

Navalny survived the attempt to kill him in August and is recuperating in Germany.

Posing as “Maxim Ustinov”, a fictional aide, Navalny asked Kudryavtsev for details of the operation and demanded to know what had gone wrong.

Unaware that he was being spoofed, Kudryavtsev apparently confirmed the FSB was behind the poisoning. Navalny was told the agent’s colleagues had applied novichok to the “inner seams” of the opposition leader’s boxer shorts, when Navalny was staying in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

A reconnaissance team had previously visited the Xander hotel and switched off the CCTV cameras, Kudryavtsev said. Once the all-clear had been given, operatives deployed the poison. It had been previously thought Navalny may have been exposed to the nerve agent through a cup of tea or a cocktail.

It now appears likely the novichok was administered in the form of a spray or an ointment, either via the hotel’s laundry service or by FSB officers sneaking into Navalny’s hotel room. The boxer shorts came back from the laundry on 18 August, two days before he collapsed.

Early on 20 August, Navalny wore the poisoned pants. He then travelled to Tomsk airport and boarded a flight to Moscow. Soon after takeoff he fell violently ill and collapsed. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk and Navalny was taken to hospital and put on a ventilator.

Asked why he survived, Navalny was told it was probably because his plane had made an emergency landing. If he had continued to Moscow – a journey of another three hours – he would probably not have survived, Kudryavtsev said. There were “lots of unknowns and nuances”, he added.

Kudryavtsev said he was sent to Omsk five days later to retrieve and sanitise Navalny’s clothes, including his underwear, to make sure all traces of novichok had been removed. On the call he told Navalny that the cleanup operation had been done effectively.

Navalny has demanded the return of his clothes from Russia. In September he complained that the FSB had destroyed possible evidence of its crime. He was airlifted from Russia to Berlin “completely naked”, he said.

“Considering novichok was found on my body, and that infection through contact is very likely, my clothes are a very important piece of evidence,” he said. “I demand that my clothes be carefully packed in a plastic bag and returned to me.”

After his collapse, colleagues from Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation bagged up items from his hotel room. Video taken at the Xander hotel shows them collecting empty water bottles, gingerly handling them using plastic gloves. These were sent to Germany for analysis.

Kudryavtsev told Navalny there were no traces of novichok on the bottles. According to Bellingcat, Kudryavtsev travelled to Omsk twice in the aftermath of the poisoning: once on 25 August and a second time on 2 October 2020. Phone records show he was in regular contact with Col Stanislav Makshakov, the FSB officer who allegedly supervised the operation.

European laboratories confirmed Navalny was poisoned with novichok, the nerve agent used in Salisbury against Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The apparent use of clothing as a delivery mechanism may explain why it took several hours for the poison to take effect – and why Navalny ultimately survived.

Last week Bellingcat identified three FSB operatives from a clandestine unit who travelled alongside Navalny to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. They included two medical doctors – Alexey Alexandrov and Ivan Osipov – and Vladimir Panyaev, whose role appears to have been reconnaissance. The trio followed Navalny to Tomsk.

According to Bellingcat, citing flight and telecoms data, at least five other FSB operatives were involved. Its latest report mentions two further names, including a local chief in the FSB’s department who was photographed in the Omsk hospital where Navalny was treated.

On Friday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, acknowledged the FSB had tailed Navalny on multiple trips but said this was necessary since he was working for US intelligence – a claim Navalny denies.

Moscow has said it is yet to see evidence of a crime and declined to open an investigation. It suggests Navalny was poisoned in Germany, or while on board the medical evacuation plane that took him in a coma to Berlin.

Officially, Russia has destroyed its chemical weapons. Last week, however, Bellingcat, identified three state-run institutes that appear to be behind a covert nerve agent programme. All communicated closely with GRU operatives linked to the Salisbury plot.

One appears to have developed novel “nano-encapsulation techniques”. This “relatively new technology could permit a lethal toxin to be ‘packaged’ within a veneer of another substance, allowing both obfuscation and delayed onset of the poison,”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
×