U.S. intelligence believes Putin probably didn't order Navalny to be killed

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, U.S. intelligence agencies have reportedly determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably did not order the killing of opposition politician Alexei Navalny at an Arctic prison camp in February. Navalny, a prominent critic of Putin, was 47 years old at the time of his death. His allies, who have been labeled as extremists by Russian authorities, have accused Putin of orchestrating his murder and have vowed to present evidence to support their claims.

The Kremlin has consistently denied any state involvement in Navalny's death. Last month, Putin described Navalny's demise as "sad" and suggested that he had been willing to hand over the jailed politician to the West in a prisoner exchange, on the condition that Navalny would never return to Russia. Navalny's allies have asserted that discussions regarding such an exchange had been ongoing.

Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Putin probably did not issue the order to have Navalny killed in February. However, it is important to note that the U.S. assessment does not absolve Putin of overall responsibility for Navalny's death. This is due to the fact that Navalny had been targeted by Russian authorities for years, imprisoned on charges widely viewed as politically motivated by the West, and previously poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020.

The Kremlin has denied any state involvement in the 2020 poisoning incident as well. In response to the Journal's report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed it as "empty speculation" and stated that he did not consider it to be of high quality or deserving of attention. Reuters has not independently verified the Journal's report, which stated that the U.S. intelligence community broadly accepted the finding and that it was shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department's intelligence unit.

The U.S. assessment reportedly considered a variety of information, including classified intelligence, as well as an analysis of public facts such as the timing of Navalny's death and its overshadowing of Putin's re-election in March. The Journal also cited a response from Leonid Volkov, a senior aide to Navalny, who dismissed the U.S. findings as naive and ridiculous.