US intelligence officials have concluded , that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably did not order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, the Associated Press reported, citing an official familiar with the case, BTA reported.
Although U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who lived in brutal prison conditions, the U.S. intelligence community has not found incontrovertible evidence to show that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death - which occurred shortly before the Russian president's re-election - or that he directly ordered it.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. Shortly after Navalny's death, US President Joe Biden said that Putin was ultimately responsible, but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it, AP recalls.
Biden then said that the US did not know exactly what happened to Navalny, but that there was "no doubt" that his death "was the result of something that Putin and his thugs did". Navalny, 47, Russia's best-known opposition politician and Putin's most outspoken foe, died on February 16 in a remote penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges he dismissed as politically motivated. AP recalls that the newspaper "Wall Street Journal" was the first to report the US intelligence conclusion.