U. S. intelligence agencies have decided that the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was not the result of a direct order from President Vladimir Putin, according to a report.
Sources close to the post-mortem investigation told the Wall Street Journal that Putin gave the order to kill Navalny when he died, and that the cases surrounding Nalvany’s death remained a mystery.
The Russian government reported on Feb. 16 that Navalny died in a penal colony near the Arctic Circle after fainting in the middle of a walk. This came after the opposition leader held a brief meeting with his lawyer after failing to do so. in it for 3 weeks. During this period, Navalny missed a virtual hearing date and the letters sent to him were not delivered.
While he was Navalny Putin’s most fervent opponent, the time of his death was very close to the Russian elections a month later. Mourners took to the streets two weeks before the vote to commemorate Navalny. Still, Putin won the election with 88% of the vote.
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Immediately after Navalny’s death was announced, President Joe Biden blamed Putin. Biden reportedly worked on a prisoner swap to free Navalny days before the Kremlin announced his death.
Navalny, who was tasked with exposing corruption in the Kremlin, was first sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in 2021 for alleged extremism. Nine years were added to his sentence in 2022, as well as another 19 years last year. .