A year ago, around this time, you learned something that had been impossible to imagine (and is still very hard to comprehend even now). Russian President Vladimir Putin created a squad of hired killers and uses their services. They work for the FSB (Russia’s security service). Here are their faces.
We told you their names, where they live, how they work, and how they carry out their terrifying special operations.
We learned that the president is killing his own citizens. Under the cover of security services that are supposed to protect us and fight terrorism, death squads are operating. A large, well-organized group of people—scientists, chemists, doctors, operatives, generals—has been assembled inside secret agencies that Putin can call and tell: I don’t like this person. Kill him.
And they do kill. With chemical weapons.
A year ago, suspicions, hints, and guesses took on a concrete form. Specific first and last names, addresses, the names of departments and agencies. A year ago, the idea that Putin could simply order your murder stopped being an abstract fear or a conspiracy theory and became a fact.
Right now, somewhere in the dark corridors or basements of a research institute, people are sitting and conducting experiments. They are figuring out how to improve the Novichok formula so there are no failures like the one with Navalny. They are coming up with something new, inventing more sophisticated, less detectable ways to kill people. They are doing it at the state’s expense, with our money. “There are no chemical weapons in Russia,” Putin assures us. “This is absurd and a dirty accusation.” But they do exist. And any one of us could become a victim.
We found ourselves dealing with a subject we never expected to confront. Usually, we investigate corruption, fraud, and abuse by officials and the courts. Not weapons of mass destruction. But life took a bizarre turn: our boss, the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Alexei Navalny, was chosen to be killed with Novichok. And we were left with literally no choice but to investigate this attempted murder ourselves. To speak about it loudly and constantly. To make sure this horrifying subject does not disappear, fade into the background, and get forgotten.
Right now, it is impossible to make Putin answer for this. Even the direct perpetrators, the killers, have faced no consequences; on the contrary, they are being carefully protected and hidden by the very people who, by law, should be putting them on trial. But that is only for now. Only for a time. And for us, it is certainly no reason to give up, be intimidated, or lose heart.
We will continue to investigate and speak about this until the full picture is known to us. Every detail, every person, every cog in this system of political executions. And you can help us do that.
We call on anyone who has encountered, worked with, or simply knows something about the work of these FSB killers to contact us and tell us what they know. Anonymously or not, a lot of information or a little—it does not matter. We will read and process every message.
We are offering a cash reward. A large one. For surveillance footage from the Xander Hotel in Tomsk, specifically recordings from August 2020, when we were staying there, we are offering 3 million rubles (about $40,000 USD at the time). These recordings supposedly disappeared; they are not in the materials of the pre-investigation inquiry, and TV propagandists did not show them either. But we know they exist. And they will answer the question of who entered Navalny’s room, when, and with what. And how he was poisoned.
For information about the FSB killers that substantially adds to the picture and serves as further proof, we are offering 1.5 million rubles (about $20,000 USD at the time). Who else takes part in these special operations. Who gave the orders, who is responsible for what, and how these agencies are structured. And, of course, what other murders and attempted murders they are responsible for.
For additional information about the specific group of poisoners who tried to kill Navalny, we are offering half a million rubles (about $7,000 USD at the time). Where they are now. What jobs they hold. And what happened to them after our investigation.
We are also appealing to the security service officers themselves. Do not be part of this horrific process. Do not become accomplices to state terrorism. It is not worth sacrificing your conscience so that your boss can receive yet another certificate of merit from Putin and buy his kids a 35th G-Wagen or a mansion on Rublyovka (an elite residential area outside Moscow). Anyone can see the obvious: Navalny, the poet Bykov, or Kara-Murza are not terrorists, not killers, not traitors, and not defectors. They committed no crimes. They were targeted not because they threatened the safety of Russians, but because they annoyed Putin.
This simply has to be stopped. And bringing publicity to it—exposing this agency for murdering political opponents—is the best way to do that.
We have also created and launched this important website: https://novichok.navalny.wiki/. It carefully compiles and documents absolutely everything related to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny with Novichok. There is an “Investigation” section, which describes all the events of August 20 and how the FSB officers directly involved in the attempt were identified. There is a special section on chemical weapons in the hands of the Russian authorities, documenting everything we learned about the development and targeted use of Novichok. There is also a separate section on the events at the Omsk hospital. And an important section on our legal actions: we were constantly in court, trying to get a criminal case opened. All the unlawful refusals and bureaucratic brush-offs are now publicly available here.
There is also much more: carefully documented lies from propagandists and officials, and documents from the OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons). In short, we are sharing everything we know with you. And of course there is the “Accomplices” section. We compiled a list of everyone—from FSB generals to the now-notorious Omsk doctors and investigators from the Omsk transport police who seized and never returned Navalny’s belongings. All of them, by name, are here.
We have no doubt: sooner or later, these refusals, evasive official replies, and protocols will become the basis for a massive trial of everyone involved. Chemical weapons, especially in the hands of a dictator driven mad by money and power, are a threat to the entire world. And it is our duty not to let him escape responsibility, and not to let others forget about this.
Freedom for Alexei Navalny.