Vladimir Putin is said to have known nothing of the exact moment Alexei Navalny died. Wall Street Journal reports based on sources that American intelligence services therefore believe that Putin did not directly order the murder of the opposition politician.
Yet the American intelligence authorities would not doubt the indirect involvement of the Russian president. According to them, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.
Still reports Wall Street Journal that a report by the US intelligence services, including the CIA, shows that internally everyone agrees that Putin was not aware of the timing of Navalny’s death.
The American findings are said to have been shared with European intelligence services. According to the newspaper, several services doubt the American explanation. These types of decisions cannot be taken in Russia without the knowledge of the president, they argue. Navalny’s former aide Leonid Volkov also calls the findings naive and “ridiculous.”
Navalny died in February under suspicious circumstances in a prison camp in Siberia. US President Joe Biden said shortly afterwards that the US holds the Russian government responsible for his death.
