WSJ: Putin did not plan Navalny's death for 16 February
However, European intelligence agencies do not believe Putin was not involved in Navalny's death
According to US intelligence agencies, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin did not plan for opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was held in the Polar Wolf colony, to die on 16 February.
Source. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, 27 April, citing informed sources.
"Such an assessment does not deny Putin's guilt in Navalny's death, but suggests that he may not have ordered it to happen at that particular moment," the publication says.
According to the WSJ, this conclusion is shared by many in the US intelligence community, including the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department's Intelligence Division.
The US intelligence services made these conclusions based on an analysis of a large amount of information, including classified intelligence, as well as well-known facts, such as the time of Navalny's death and how this death cast a shadow over Putin's re-election, the publication said.
It is noted that the intelligence services of some European countries are also aware of the opinion of the US intelligence services. At the same time, certain countries "have been sceptical of the suggestion that Putin did not have a direct hand in Navalny's death".
"In a system that is as tightly controlled as Putin's Russia, it is doubtful that Navalny could have been harmed without prior notification to the president," the newspaper quotes European officials as saying.
Doubts were also expressed by Navalny's closest associates. In particular, Leonid Volkov dismissed the assumptions of the US intelligence services as naive, The Wall Street Journal recalls.
Slawomir Dębski, the head of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, has a similar position.
"Navalny was a very valuable prisoner from a political point of view, and everyone knew that Putin was personally involved in his fate. The chances of such an unexpected death are very small," the publication quotes the expert as saying.
Background. Earlier, the WSJ wrote that Scholz and Biden had indeed personally discussed the exchange of Navalny for Berlin hitman Viktor Krasikov. However, the US administration did not have time to offer this exchange to the Russian leadership.
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