Putin likely didn’t order death of Russian opposition leader Navalny, U.S. official says
WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death in February of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to one familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that the Russian president was aware of the timing of the death — which came soon before his reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, President Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse him of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Under a heavy police presence, thousands of people bade farewell to Putin foe and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at his funeral in Moscow.
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement in both the poisoning and his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
Madhani writes for the Associated Press.
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