Russian President Vladimir Putin likely did not order the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a senior US intelligence official told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Navalny died in a Russian prison in February and foreign leaders quickly blamed Putin for what was believed to be a political assassination. The official told the Journal that Putin is still responsible for Navalny’s death, but was likely not aware of the timing or nature of the killing, or directly ordered it.
The view, reportedly shared among US intelligence agencies, states that investigations have not found a “smoking gun” of Putin’s involvement.
President Biden sharply denounced Putin after Navalny’s death, holding him responsible but not alleging that he directly ordered the killing, saying instead that the details were unknown.
“Reports of his death, if they are true, and I have no reason to believe they are not — Russian officials will tell their own story,” Biden said in White House remarks at the time.
“But make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible. What happened to Navalny is further proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be deceived,” he continued.
Russian authorities have only said that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied any involvement in his death.
Just weeks after Navalny’s death, Putin won a fifth term in national elections.
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