Navalny has been one of the Kremlin’s most vocal critics. According to Russian authorities, he died on February 16 in the IK-3 penal colony, also known as the Polar Wolf. According to the official version, he died of natural causes. Navalny’s associates are convinced that they murdered him. They want to back up this claim with evidence.
The EU and the US directly blamed Russia for Navalny’s death and moved to impose new sanctions on the Kremlin.
But U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably” did not order the killing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny at this Arctic prison in February, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
However, the WSJ reported on Saturday that several US agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the US State Department’s intelligence unit, agree that Putin likely did not order Navalny’s death “at that moment”, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
That Putin would not be informed? It is ridiculous
According to the WSJ report, US intelligence shared the assessment with some European intelligence agencies. But some European security officials “remain skeptical” that Putin did not play a direct role in Navalny’s death, given his tight grip on Russia.
The US assessment is “based on a range of information, including some classified intelligence, and an analysis of public facts, including the timing of his death and how it overshadowed Putin’s re-election,” the WSJ said.
Navalny’s ally and senior adviser, Leonid Volkov, told the WSJ that “the idea that Putin was not informed and did not approve the killing of Navalny is ridiculous.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees U.S. intelligence, declined to comment on the matter, according to the WSJ report.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any state involvement in Navalny’s death. In March, Putin described her as unfortunate and said he was prepared to hand over the politician to the West in a prisoner swap, provided Navalny never returned to Russia. Even Navalny’s allies claimed that such negotiations took place.
The WSJ, citing unnamed officials familiar with the matter, wrote that US intelligence has concluded that Putin likely did not order Navalny to be killed in February.
Washington, however, did not absolve Putin of overall responsibility, given that Navalny had been targeted by Russian authorities for several years, according to the newspaper. He was serving a 19-year sentence in prison for “extremism”, which the West considered a politically motivated charge.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday that he had seen the WSJ report.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a high-quality material that deserves any attention,” Peskov said, according to Russian media.
Navalny was detained and taken into custody in January 2021 – on the day of his return from Germany, where he was recovering from poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok. He accused the Kremlin of the poisoning attempt, which it denied.
In its report, Reuters pointed out that it could not independently verify the claims made in the article by the American newspaper. In it, the WSJ cited sources as saying that the US intelligence community’s conclusions were “widely accepted within the intelligence community and agreed upon by several US agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)”.
The conclusions, according to the sources, were based on a wealth of information, including classified intelligence data and an analysis of publicly known facts, including the timing of Navalny’s death and how it overshadowed the March presidential election in Russia.
Topics:
Alexei Navalny,
Vladimir Putin,
Russia
Tags: WSJ Putin Didnt Order Navalnys Death Secret Service Believes
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