Putin likely didn’t order death of Russian opposition leader Navalny, US official says

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officers have decided that Russian President Vladimir Putin possible didn’t order the dying of imprisoned opposition chief Alexei Navalny in February, in line with an official acquainted with the willpower.

While U.S. officers consider Putin was finally liable for the dying of Navalny, who endured brutal circumstances throughout his confinement, the intelligence group has discovered “no smoking gun” that Putin was conscious of the timing of Navalny’s dying — which got here quickly earlier than the Russian president’s reelection — or straight ordered it, in line with the official.

The official spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the delicate matter.

Soon after Navalny’s dying, U.S. President Joe Biden mentioned Putin was finally accountable however didn’t accuse the Russian president of straight ordering it.

At the time, Biden mentioned the U.S. didn’t know precisely what had occurred to Navalny however that “there is no doubt” that his dying “was the consequence of something 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 costs 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 dying.

In March, a month after Navalny’s dying, Putin gained a landslide reelection for a fifth time period, an final result that was by no means doubtful.

The Wall Street Journal first reported concerning the U.S. intelligence willpower.