Russian state investigators seized everything Alexey Navalny touched in final hours before death, new leaked documents show
A new set of leaked documents published by the investigative site the Dossier Center includes a list of items seized by Russian state investigators in connection with opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s death in February. The catalogue, which was previously posted by the anonymous Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, appears to include everything Navalny could plausibly have touched in the hours before his death, ranging from his clothes and books to snow samples and swabs from the ground where he lay. According to the outlet, the new insights could suggest the investigators were initially operating under the theory that Navalny’s death was the result of foul play. Here’s what we know.
Russian state investigators confiscated every object with which opposition politician Alexey Navalny had or may have had physical contact in the hours before his death, according to a new report from the Dossier Center. The outlet published a purportedly complete list of the seized items.
The inventory, which contains 75 items in total, includes:
- All of Navalny’s clothing;
- His mattress, sheets, and books (a Bible, War and Peace, Pushkin’s Life and Works, and an English-Russian dictionary)
- Food samples;
- Swabs from Navalny’s coat, from the floor where he was lying when he died, and from his cell;
- Samples of snow from the exercise yard where, according to the Federal Penitentiary Service, Navalny first began feeling sick;
- Vomit, nail plates from both hands, hair samples, and swabs from his lips, hands, nose, and mouth;
- Trash and disposable supplies left behind by the medics who treated Navalny (medical masks, medical supply boxes, and a bag valve mask used for artificial ventilation).
The Dossier Center suggested that the medics may have received unspecified help from several convicts, noting that documents from the investigation indicate that Navalny had contact with people named M. A. Mironov, V. C. Abayev, and V. V. Sigachev, none of whom are listed as prison employees. The records also say that investigators confiscated medical gloves worn by “convict Abayev.”
The outlet also noted that only 31 of the 75 list items are marked as having been sent in for examination. It’s unclear whether the rest of the seized items, such as his clothing, were tested. The Dossier Center reported that samples of Navalny’s blood and urine were sent to the Russian Health Ministry’s Center for Forensic Analysis for testing.
The journalists wrote that the “actions of law enforcement officials” immediately after Navalny’s death could suggest that they were investigating it as a wrongful death, rather than a spontaneous health incident.
On August 15, 2024, Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, published an official ruling issued by state investigators that stated they would not open a criminal case over the politician’s death because it “was not of a criminal nature” and was due to “heart arrhythmia.” In late September and early October, the investigative news site The Insider and the anonymous Telegram channel VChK-OGPU published earlier versions of the same document that describe Navalny experiencing symptoms such as vomiting and convulsions — details that were redacted from the version sent to Navalnaya. Doctor Alexander Polupan, who treated Navalny after he was poisoned in 2020, told The Insider that he believes it’s “unlikely that these symptoms can be explained by anything other than poisoning.”