Russian President Vladimir Putin probably did not order the assassination of political opponent Alexei Navalny, according to sources close to US intelligence agencies.
The death of Alexeï Navalny was announced on February 16 by the Russian prison administration. American intelligence agencies have established that Vladimir Putin probably did not order the Russian opponent to be killed, according to the Wall Street Journal. The 47-year-old man took his last breath in the Kharp penitentiary center, known as the “Polar Wolf”, located in the Russian Arctic, where he was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism”.
While those close to Navalny have pointed out the Kremlin’s responsibility in the death of Alexeï Navalny, the Wall Street Journal specifies that American intelligence “does not question Putin’s guilt regarding Navalny’s death, but establishes rather that he probably did not order it, at that specific moment.” According to the newspaper, “the analysis of public facts, such as the timing of his death and how it overshadowed Putin’s re-election” to the presidency of Russia, a month later . The Wall Street Journal acknowledges that “the exact circumstances of his death may never be determined.”
Poisoning before incarceration
On August 20, 2020, Alexeï Navalny was the victim of an assassination attempt by poisoning, during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. He was transferred and treated in Germany, where analyzes confirmed Novichok poisoning. The episode is the source of a rise in tensions between Germany and Russia. From January 17, 2021, Navalny deliberately boarded a plane to return to Russia.
He was arrested as soon as he landed and was reproached for not having honored the obligatory summons as part of his conditional release, throughout his convalescence in Germany. For these violations, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The verdict was denounced abroad, notably by French President Emmanuel Macron, and caused major demonstrations in Russia.
In March 2022, during a new trial, Alexeï Navalny received nine years of internment in “severe regime” for fraud. In July 2023, another court sentenced him to 19 years in prison for “extremism”. In December, he was transferred to the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in the Russian Arctic. This is where he will end his days, two months later, on February 16, 2024, in circumstances which are still the subject of many questions.