Rubio says U.S. does not dispute Navalny poisoning assessment by Europeans

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday called "troubling" a report by five European allies blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using toxin from poison dart frogs, adding that Washington had no reason to question it, Reuters reported.

"We obviously are aware of the report. It's a troubling report. We're aware of that case of Mr. Navalny and certainly... we don't have any reason to question it," Reuters quoted Rubio as saying at a news conference in Bratislava during a visit to Slovakia.

In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands on Saturday said analyses of samples from Navalny's body "conclusively" confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.

The Russian government, which has repeatedly denied any responsibility for Navalny's death while he was held in an Arctic penal colony two years ago, dismissed the latest allegations as "a Western propaganda hoax," according to TASS.