All posts tagged: Alexei

Alexei Ratmansky’s Leap of Faith | Marina Harss

Alexei Ratmansky’s Leap of Faith | Marina Harss

Published by Jenni Sidey

It was a rainy afternoon in Copenhagen, and four exhausted ballet dancers were hard at work in a large rehearsal room on the fourth floor of the Royal Danish Theatre. The choreographer Alexei Ratmansky was pacing the studio, intensely focused. An assistant stood beside him holding a score of The Art of the Fugue, Johann Sebastian Bach’s great unfinished work. The dancers had been at it for hours. They looked sallow, too tired even to sweat, but Ratmansky was not yet satisfied with what he saw. He asked the rehearsal pianist to play a passage from the score, took a moment to think, then blurted out two phrases of choreography for the dancers. He showed the steps, and they repeated them back. Then he showed them again, illuminating this or that nuance, and they did it again. Everyone in the room was trying things out, fixing, sculpting, connecting the movements until a phrase emerged, clear and new. It was a week before the premiere, and the ballet was still very much a work in progress. …

Putin’s Kremlin had possession of frog poison used to kill Alexei Navalny, foreign secretary claims | News UK Video News

Putin’s Kremlin had possession of frog poison used to kill Alexei Navalny, foreign secretary claims | News UK Video News

Published by Sam Flores

Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin “has had possession” of the deadly frog toxin that was found in the body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the UK’s foreign secretary has said. Yvette Cooper also confirmed that the poison – found in the skin of Ecuadorian dart frogs – can also be manufactured in the laboratory and hinted that this could have been the case with the substance alleged to have killed the dissident, who died in a Russian prison two years ago. She was speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sunday, a day after the UK and a group of allies announced that their scientists had discovered that Mr Navalny, 47, had been poisoned with the frog toxin – called epibatidine. Classed as a chemical weapon, it is 200 times stronger than morphine and causes paralysis, respiratory failure and death. Image: Alexei Navalny was buried in the suburbs of Moscow in March 2024. Pic: Reuters Indigenous tribes in South America are said to use the toxin in blow darts or blowguns when they hunt. But it can also …

Alexei Navalny was killed by Russia with frog toxin, 5 European governments say – POLITICO

Alexei Navalny was killed by Russia with frog toxin, 5 European governments say – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

But poisoning was “highly likely the cause of his death,” the five countries said in a joint statement on Saturday. Scientists from Porton Down, the U.K.’s top secret laboratory, played a key role in the findings, according to British officials. Navalny, a longtime thorn in the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was filmed the day before his death at a court hearing cracking jokes and seemingly in high spirits The U.K. said in a separate statement on Saturday that the circumstances of Navalny’s death were “brutal and barbaric.”  The five countries’ representatives to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have written to its director general to inform him of the alleged Russian breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.  The U.K. said Navalny’s death is part of an “alarming pattern” of behavior by Russia, including its use of the Novichok chemical agent in the U.K. in 2018, which led to the death of a British woman, and Russian troops’ “frequent use of chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.” Russia’s foreign ministry did …

Alexei Navalny died after being ‘poisoned with dart frog tox | World | News

Alexei Navalny died after being ‘poisoned with dart frog tox | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

The Russian state killed opposition leader and Vladimir Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin, the Foreign Office has said. Two years on from the death of Mr Navalny at a Siberian penal colony, Britain and its allies have pinned the blame on the Kremlin following analysis of material samples found on his body. There is no innocent explanation for the toxin epibatidine being found on Mr Navalny’s body, the Foreign Office said. Speaking from the Munich Security Conference, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Since Yulia Navalnaya announced the loss of her husband here in Munich two years ago, the UK has pursued the truth of Alexei Navalny’s death with fierce determination. Only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia. Today, beside his widow, the UK is shining a light on the Kremlin’s barbaric plot to silence his voice.” Western governments said laboratory testing had “conclusively confirmed” the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found …

Putin’s Kremlin had possession of frog poison used to kill Alexei Navalny, foreign secretary claims | News UK Video News

Russia killed Alexei Navalny with dart frog poison, UK and allies say | World News

Published by Sam Flores

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison in Russia after being poisoned with a deadly toxin found in the skin of Ecuadorian dart frogs, the UK and other allies have revealed. The “barbaric” act – using a neurotoxin that is classed as a chemical weapon – could only have been carried out by Vladimir Putin’s government, they said on Saturday. The poisoning “highly likely” resulted in Mr Navalny’s death in 2024. Sky News understands it is likely the toxin was manufactured in a laboratory rather than actually taken from the frogs It is not clear how the frog poison – called epibatidine – was allegedly administered to the dissident, who had been in a penal colony in Siberia when he died almost exactly two years ago. Indigenous tribes in South America are said to use the toxin in blow darts or blowguns when they hunt. Image: Alexei Navalny was buried in the suburbs of Moscow in March 2024. Pic: Reuters The poison – described as “one of the deadliest on earth” – is 200 …