Five European nations announced Saturday that they believe Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs. The announcement came as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a reassuring message to European leaders at the Munich Security Conference, seeking to revitalize transatlantic ties strained by the previous administration.
The foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands issued a joint statement confirming the presence of epibatidine in Navalny's body, a toxin naturally found in South American dart frogs. According to the statement, the analysis of samples taken from Navalny's body conclusively confirmed the poisoning, and the Russian government was the likely culprit. Navalny died in a remote Siberian prison two years prior.
Secretary Rubio, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, sought to mend relations with European allies. He stated that the U.S. and Europe "belong together," a message that some European leaders viewed as an olive branch after a more antagonistic appearance by Vice President J.D. Vance at the same forum the previous year. Rubio emphasized the shared history between the U.S. and Europe, adding, "We want Europe to be strong."
The Secretary's speech came at a time when U.S.-European relations had been strained by the previous administration's aggressive efforts. The conference, held in Munich, Germany, saw Rubio deliver a calm and reassuring message, striking a less aggressive but still firm tone about the U.S.'s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance.
While the focus was on international relations, another story emerged from the U.S. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been actively working to resist the Trump administration's immigration policies. He has signed laws to limit ICE operations in the state, created the Illinois Accountability Commission staffed by retired federal judges, sued the federal government, and successfully blocked the deployment of federal agents.
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