“This assessment does not dispute Putin’s responsibility for Navalny’s death. It is more about the fact that he most likely did not give such an order at the exact moment,” the publication writes.
The conclusion is widely shared in the US intelligence community and is shared by the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department’s Office of Intelligence and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees US intelligence.
The intelligence assessment is based on an analysis of classified intelligence and public information, including how Navalny’s death “overshadowed” Putin’s re-election (Navalny died a month before the election).
US authorities have briefed some intelligence agencies in Europe on their assessment of Navalny’s death.
Some European countries remain skeptical that Putin was not directly involved in Navalny’s death, European security sources told the publication.
Navalny’s associate Leonid Volkov described the assessment of the US intelligence services as naive.
Video: The last post capturing Navalny
As reported, the Russian authorities announced on Friday that Navalny died in prison in the Yamal Nenets Autonomous Region. Navalny’s associates confirmed on Saturday that the opposition figure had died.
Navalny was detained in January 2021 while returning from Germany, where he was receiving treatment after a poisoning attempt by Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents.
In February of the same year, Navalny was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for allegedly violating the terms of his suspended prison sentence in 2014 while undergoing treatment in Germany. In March of the following year, he was sentenced to another nine years in prison for “fraud” and “contempt of court”, and in August 2023 – to 19 years in prison for “extremism”.
In late December, Navalny was transferred to a special regime colony built in the 1960s on the site of a former Gulag camp.
