Substances used in the synthesis of epibatidine, the poison used to kill Alexei Navalny, may have been supplied by a subsidiary of the German chemical company abcr Chemie GmbH, The Insider reports.
According to the outlet, employees of the Signal research center, Igor Babkin and Sergei Galan, may have been involved in the development and synthesis of epibatidine. They authored scientific papers related to substances in the azanorbornane class, to which epibatidine belongs. Journalists note that their dissertations are classified.
The Insider also examined information on imports of chemical reagents needed to synthesize the substance. According to the publication, one of the companies, ABCR Chemie Rus, imported several components matching the list of substances mentioned in scientific publications by Russian chemists.
Journalists claim that managers of this company regularly spoke by phone with Signal employees. In particular, Babkin repeatedly stayed in contact over a long period with Lilia Sabirova, deputy general director and commercial director of ABCR Chemie Rus LLC, and also communicated with sales manager Alexei Kiselev. At the same time, company representatives deny cooperation with Signal.
ABCR Chemie Rus is 90% owned by the German parent company abcr GmbH. After journalists sent an inquiry, mentions of the Russian division disappeared from the parent company’s website.
Jan Schuricht, head of abcr Chemie GmbH, said the company complies with sanctions restrictions and has not supplied products to Signal since 2018. He also said the Russian division could be closed.