United States intelligence agencies believe that although the Russian president is ultimately responsible for the death of the opposition leader Alexey NavalnyVladimir Putin did not directly order his assassination in February, the Wall Street Journal reported this Saturday (27).
That conclusion, which the publication said was based both on classified intelligence and an analysis of public facts, raises new questions about Navalny’s death in a remote Arctic prison complex, which triggered a new round of sanctions against President Russia. Vladimir Putin.
Among these facts was the timing of the opposition leader’s death in mid-February, which overshadowed Putin’s re-election a month later. The CIA and other American intelligence agencies believe that Putin probably did not order the killing “at that very moment,” although that does not absolve him of responsibility for what happened to Navalny, the WSJ said, citing sources close to the case.
European officials briefed on the content of the report were skeptical that the 47-year-old dissident could have been attacked without Putin’s prior knowledge, given the tight control that prevails in today’s Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” said US President Joe Biden at the time of his death. The Russian prison service said Navalny fell ill on February 16 while walking inside the prison grounds and that attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful.
The opponent appeared relatively healthy and in good spirits in a video from the day before his death. A week earlier, information circulated about high-level negotiations regarding a prisoner exchange involving him.
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Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges that he and his co-defendants consider fabricated. Navalny had already survived a previous poisoning that American and foreign investigators attributed to the Kremlin.
Moscow denies its responsibility for both the poisoning and his death. In recent years, many prominent opponents of the Kremlin have died, been arrested or forced to leave the country.
