Years before a Russian poison squad nearly killed Alexei Navalny by allegedly planting a Novichok-like nerve agent in his boxer shorts, the same group improved their skills on other Russian opposition figures, according to a new report from Bellingcat.
The same agents who, according to Bellingcat Navalny, chased, chased and spied for more than three years, also followed three other Russian dissidents, including Kremlin critic and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who, like murdered Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, contributed to The Washington Post.
Kara-Murza was poisoned twice, both incidents left him in prolonged comas while his vital organs were shut down. Like Navalny’s suspected poisoning, Russian authorities declined to investigate the attacks on Kara-Murza, despite international outrage.
According to Bellingcat’s report, two Russian hospitals and three independent studies concluded that Kara-Murza had been poisoned by an unidentified substance.
Using travel data, Bellingcat concluded that the same FSB poison crew that followed Navalny also turned up where Kara-Murza had been for months before his first poisoning in 2015 and chased him again until he was poisoned in 2017. “Destinations with 14 overlapping flights – makes an accidental overlap statistically unlikely,” the Bellingcat report said. of the FSB’s constitution and counter-terrorism Bellingcat says Mezentsev was a close ally of Vladislav Surkov, Putin’s former adviser known in Kremlin circles as The Gray Cardinal.
At least two members of the same poison squad also reportedly followed Russian anti-corruption activist Nikita Isaev in the weeks before his death while on a train trip from Tambov to Moscow in 2019.
The research group says it has focused on activities of the FSB poison squad outside Moscow because the overlap between the agents and the potential victims is more difficult to refute, but they do not rule out that the agents actually prefer to kill far from home. “This may be due to the perceived inferior quality of emergency medical services in those regions; due to the relative ease of accessing a target’s hotel room while traveling; or even due to anticipated long-haul travel by their targets that would hinder medical care, ”Bellingcat reports. However, the FSB squad’s perceived preference for ‘out-of-Moscow’ poisoning can also be used as a proxy for determining their likely complicity in operations in Moscow. It can be logically assumed – and confirmed by data in the Navalny and Isaev cases – that the squad will typically be the target of a political assassination for at least several months before a hit is launched. “
Because Kara-Murza was receiving treatment for his poisoning in the US, The Washington Post has called on the Biden government to release information about the substance used and whether it was banned, which could open the door to sanctions or more. At the end of last month, the Post editorial wrote that as the agency “is looking into this matter as a case of willful poisoning,” it should release the details. “It has refused to release the results of its laboratory tests, which could show whether Mr. Kara-Murza, like Mr. Navalny and other Kremlin targets, was attacked with a banned chemical weapon.”
The Post has also unsuccessfully petitioned congressmen, including Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a high-ranking member of the intelligence committee who is said to be aware of the details of the case. “In light of the series of attacks on Kremlin opponents and the need to hold the Putin regime to account, this is not acceptable”, Post editorial wrote. Upcoming Attorney General Merrick Garland should order the FBI to disclose what it knows about Mr. Kara-Murza.