France, Feb. 15 -- France has sharpened its rhetoric against Russia after new forensic findings into the death of Alexei Navalny, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot accusing President Vladimir Putin of being willing to deploy biological weapons against his own people.

In a strongly worded post on X, Barrot said the conclusions drawn by France and four European partners showed that Navalny's 2024 death in prison was "the result of poisoning with one of the deadliest nerve agents". He added that the case demonstrated a chilling readiness by the Russian president "to use biological weapons against his own people to stay in power."

The remarks mark one of Paris's most direct accusations yet and signal a broader European effort to frame ...