U.S. Intelligence agencies suggest that Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is unlikely to have orchestrated the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny, 47, suffered a sudden death at an Arctic penal colony in February following his collapse. In 2020, the U.S. had determined that an assassination attempt via Novichok nerve agent poisoning on Navalny was state-sponsored, crediting the Kremlin as the likely culprit. However, this new assessment, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, suggests Putin may not have desired Navalny’s sudden passing, partly due to its eclipse of Putin’s reelection campaign.
Despite this assessment, U.S. President Joe Biden continues to hold Putin accountable for Navalny’s demise, leading to increased U.S. sanctions on Russia. In comparison, former President Donald Trump expressed uncertainty when questioned about Putin’s involvement in Navalny’s death.
Navalny had been hospitalized in Germany following the nerve agent poisoning, returning to Russia into detention in 2021. Upon his death, the Federal Penitentiary Service announced Navalny suddenly fell ill and lost consciousness after a walk, with all resuscitation attempts proving unsuccessful. Russian media has attributed Navalny’s undeclared cause of death in the U.S. to a blood clot.
Critics in Europe and Navalny’s allies have deemed the U.S. assessment naive, asserting Putin’s likely responsibility. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation posits that Putin ordered Navalny’s death as a preventive measure against possible exchange in a U.S. prisoner swap that Putin had agreed to in March.
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