AGI – US intelligence agencies have established that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “did not directly order” that his opponent Aleksei Navalny be killed in February in the maximum security prison where he was imprisoned. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote this, citing “people familiar with the facts”.
“The assessment does not dispute Putin’s responsibility” for what happened, “but rather considers that it was probably not him who ordered it at that time”, writes the American newspaper, underlining that the consideration “is widely accepted within the political community “The intelligence is shared by multiple agencies, including the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department’s intelligence unit,” the sources said.
The news deepens the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the death of what had become the Kremlin’s number one internal enemy. Some European intelligence agencies have been informed of the US assessment of the matter, writes the WSJ. According to security officials in several European capitals, some EU countries remain skeptical that Putin had no direct role in Navalny’s death.
The American newspaper admits that it was not possible to determine whether intelligence agencies had developed alternative explanations for the politician’s death. The Anti-Corruption Foundation, set up by the opponent, said the politician was killed in prison after Putin became aware of a potential prisoner exchange with the US and Germany and intervened to prevent it. The group’s head of investigations, Maria Pevchikh, said the Foundation was involved in efforts to win Navalny’s freedom.
