Specialists from the institute that previously created a poison from the "Novichok" series also participated in the development of the substance used to poison Alexei Navalny in the penal colony.

In 2013, a team of researchers from the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT) published a scientific paper. It described a highly efficient method for producing epibatidine—a toxic substance. According to current information, it is this poison, with a high degree of probability, that caused the death of Alexei Navalny. This circumstance was pointed out in his investigation by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Sergei Dobrynin.