Poisonings of Activists in the North Caucasus: A Low Threshold for Chemical Weapons Use Inside Russia?
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 18 Issue: 20
Timur Kuashev, Ruslan Magomedragimov and Nikita Isaev
On January 27, a reputable team of investigators from the Bellingcat organization published a report regarding the activities of the Russian security services’ poison squad. Investigators linked several Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives and civilian chemists to the death of journalist and activist Timur Kuashev in Kabardino-Balkaria in 2014, activist Ruslan Magomedragimov in Dagestan in 2015, and pro-Kremlin politician Nikita Isaev in 2019 (Ekho Moskvy, Bellingcat.com, January 27). The new investigation followed in the footsteps of the open-source intelligence outfit’s previous efforts to identify the people and organizations behind the poisoning of the prominent Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny with a military-grade chemical agent known as Novichok (
Russian police search Navalny apartment. - AAP
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A Russian court is set to decide on an appeal over the 30-day pre-trial imprisonment of dissident and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Navalny returned to Russia earlier this month after receiving treatment in Germany following an assassination attempt with the nerve agent Novichok.
He was immediately detained upon his arrival and sentenced to pre-trial detention.
Navalny s lawyers hope that the Khimki court near Moscow will free the 44-year-old following a hearing on Thursday.
He is accused by Russian prosecutors of violating a previous suspended sentence by travelling to Germany.
Navalny s team called for protests this coming Sunday to go ahead regardless of the court s decision.
Navalny’s Alleged FSB Poisoners Linked to Deaths of Journalists, Activists – Investigation Updated: Timur Kuashev, Ruslan Magomedragimov and Nikita Isayev. The Insider / theins.ru
An elite Russian chemical weapons squad that tailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny for years before allegedly poisoning him with Novichok was involved with at least three other killings, according to a joint investigation published Wednesday.
In December, CNN, the Bellingcat investigative outlet, Russia’s The Insider and Germany’s Der Spiegel used phone records, flight logs and other documents to track the movements of a Federal Security Service (FSB) unit specializing in toxins and nerve agents. That investigation said the unit’s members were deployed alongside Navalny’s Siberian trip at around the time of his Aug. 20 poisoning.
A Russian hit squad accused of trying to kill the Putin critic Alexei Navalny may be linked to four other deaths and poisonings, according to an investigation of travel records.
A joint investigation by Bellingcat and CNN last month says it identified at least six members of a Russian security service that are focused in nerve agents and toxins.
The analysis, through phone and flight history, suggests that Navalny, 44, was followed by the FSB operatives to a minimum of 17 cities since 2017.
Now, after investigative website Bellingcat released data on 565 flight and train journeys it says were made by the operatives in Russia, the team has been connected to the locations of three other deaths and one poisoning.