Opposition leader Alexei Navalny could have poisoned himself with village moonshine. Ethyl hexyl phosphate, which the Germans found, is a substance that gives plastics their thermal fire-fighting properties. It can be extracted with alcohol. “Rural moonshiners” in the absence of glass bottles can use plastic. Therefore, this substance can enter the body of customers.
Recurring disinformation narrative surrounding the poisoning of a prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
Navalny fell ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow on the 20th of August. Initially hospitalised in Omsk, at the request of his family he was transferred to Charité hospital in Berlin, where clinical findings indicated that he was poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. Subsequent toxicological tests provided unequivocal evidence of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group in the blood samples of Alexei Navalny.
By the time the EU sanctions were imposed, the fact of Navalny's poisoning with a Novichok-type agent had been solidly established and these findings were later independently corroborated by labs in France and Sweden, and finally confirmed by the OPCW.
Germany has responded to past Russian calls for Navalny's medical samples by saying that Russia should already have all it needs after its initial treatment of the dissident.
On December 14, 2020, Bellingcat, The Insider, CNN, der Spiegel and El Pais identified eight FSB experts involved in Navalny´s poisoning.