U.S. intelligence officers have decided that Russian President Vladimir Putin seemingly didn’t order the loss of life of imprisoned opposition chief Alexei Navalny in February
WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officers have decided that Russian President Vladimir Putin seemingly didn’t order the loss of life of imprisoned opposition chief Alexei Navalny in February, in keeping with an official acquainted with the dedication.
Whereas U.S. officers imagine Putin was in the end answerable for the loss of life of Navalny, who endured brutal situations throughout his confinement, the intelligence neighborhood has discovered “no smoking gun” that Putin was conscious of the timing of Navalny’s loss of life — which got here quickly earlier than the Russian president’s reelection — or instantly ordered it, in keeping with the official.
The official spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the delicate matter.
Quickly after Navalny’s loss of life, U.S. President Joe Biden mentioned Putin was in the end accountable however didn’t accuse the Russian president of instantly ordering it.
On the time, Biden mentioned the U.S. didn’t know precisely what had occurred to Navalny however that “there isn’t any doubt” that his loss of life “was the consequence of one thing that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a distant penal colony above the Arctic Circle whereas serving a 19-year sentence on extremism prices that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, the place he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officers have mentioned solely that Navalny died of pure causes and have vehemently denied involvement each within the poisoning and in his loss of life.
In March, a month after Navalny’s loss of life, Putin gained a landslide reelection for a fifth time period, an consequence that was by no means unsure.
The Wall Avenue Journal first reported concerning the U.S. intelligence dedication.