Rubio says U.S. is not disputing Navalny poisoning assessment by Europeans

U.S. Secretary of ​State Marco Rubio on ‌Sunday (February 15, 2026) called “troubling” a ​report by ⁠five European allies blaming Russia for killing late ‌Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using toxin ‌from poison dart ‌frogs, ⁠adding that Washington ⁠had no reason to question it.

“We obviously ​are aware ‌of the report. It’s a troubling report. We’re aware of ‌that case of ​Mr. Navalny and certainly..we don’t have ⁠any reason to question it. We’re ‌not disputing. We’re going to do a fight with these countries over it. But it ‌was their report, and ​they put that out there,” Mr. Rubio, ⁠speaking at a news ⁠conference in Bratislava during a visit.

In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands on Saturday (February 14, 2026) said analyses of samples from Navalny’s body “conclusively” ​confirmed the presence of epibatidine, ‌a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.

The Russian government, which has repeatedly denied ‌any responsibility for Navalny’s death while he was ​held in an Arctic penal colony two years ago, dismissed the latest allegations as “a ⁠Western propaganda hoax,” according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.

When asked why the United States did not ‌join the statement, Mr. Rubio said this was an endeavour by them.

“Those countries came to that conclusion. They coordinated that. We chose – Doesn’t mean we disagree with the outcome. We just, it wasn’t, our endeavour. Sometimes countries go out and do ‌their thing with based on the intelligence they’ve gathered.” Mr. Rubio ​said.

“We’re not disputing or getting into a fight with these countries over it. ⁠But it was their report, and they put that out ⁠there,” he added.

Russian Opposition leader Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony in ‌February 2024, after being convicted of extremism and other charges, all of which he denied.