| UK Statement of Reasons |
Vladimir Panyaev is a member of the FSB. Evidence including phone and travel records suggest that Vladimir Panyaev was present during the use of a chemical weapon in the attempted assassination of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny during his August 2020 visit to Siberia. A chemical weapon - a toxic nerve agent of the Novichok group - was used. Vladimir Panyaev was an FSB member who was present in Tomsk where Navalny was poisoned.
Russia had the technical capability to carry out the attack. The Russian State has previously produced Novichoks and would still be capable of doing so. Within the last decade, Russia has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichok. It is unlikely that Novichoks could be made and deployed by non-state actors (e.g. a criminal or terrorist group).
Russia had the operational experience to carry out the attack. Russia has a proven record of state-sponsored assassination. It is highly likely that the Russian state was responsible for the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 using a similar type of nerve agent. During the 2000s, Russia commenced a programme to test means of delivering chemical warfare agents, including investigation of ways of delivering nerve agents.
Russia had the motive and opportunity to carry out the attack. Navalny is a high profile Russian opposition politician who vocally criticised the Russian administration and establishment. He was on Russian territory under surveillance by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation at the time of the attack.
There are reasonable grounds to suspect that Vladimir Panyaev in his capacity as a member of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, was present in Tomsk at the time of the poisoning and was one of the key figures responsible for the preparation and use of a toxic nerve agent of the Novichok group in the attempted assassination of Alexey Navalny.
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