Silicon Bites Ep286 | 2026-02-16 | Britain and four European allies now say Alexei Navalny wasn’t just ‘mistreated’ in prison — he was poisoned with a rare neurotoxin linked to poison dart frogs. Finally, they’re naming it. Some of us always believe he was deliberately killed, but would not have expected that such a rare, expensive and theatrical poison would have been used. It seems that the cruelty and callousness of Moscow is matched by its penchant for theatrical murder. On 14 February 2026, the UK Foreign Office published a statement saying lab work found epibatidine in samples from Navalny’s body — calling it “the deadly toxin found in the skin of Ecuador dart frogs.” The UK says it was found in Navalny’s body and “highly likely resulted in his death,” and adds: “There is no innocent explanation for its presence.” (GOV.UK)And the UK didn’t do this alone. Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands issued a joint statement: their national laboratories’ analysis “conclusively confirmed” epibatidine. They say it isn’t found naturally in Russia — which is the point: you don’t accidentally pick up a toxin sourced from South American dart frogs inside a Russian penal colony. (GOV.UK)----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------SOURCES:UK Foreign Office statement (14 Feb 2026): “UK confirms Russia poisoned Navalny in prison with rare toxin.” Joint statement (UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands) on lab confirmation of epibatidine. Reuters (15 Feb 2026): Rubio says US has “no reason to question” European assessment; details on non-signature. AP (14 Feb 2026): summary of European statement, OPCW referral, date of death. The Guardian (15 Feb 2026): UK considering sanctions; Russian embassy rebuttal; Cooper comments.Sky News (14 Feb 2026): timing analysis; Navalnaya’s Munich remarks; embassy response framing. Al Jazeera (15 Feb 2026): recap + notes uncertainty over how samples were obtained; Navalny death/MSC timing. The Guardian science explainer (14 Feb 2026): epibatidine effects; expert toxicology quotes. Euronews (14 Feb 2026): summary of allied accusations and MSC context. The Insider (14 Feb 2026): OPCW notification and related reporting context. ----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------