WASHINGTON-
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely did not order the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While US officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “irrefutable proof” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny’s death. Navalny, which occurred shortly before Russia’s re-election of the president, or ordered it directly, according to the official.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
Shortly after Navalny’s death, US President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible, but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said that the United States did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that there was “no doubt” that his death “was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent enemy, died on February 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges he rejected. considering them politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that 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 re-election to a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the determination of the US intelligence services.