US intelligence agencies have found no evidence that the Russian leadership was involved in the death of Alexei Navalny, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports citing sources.
According to the sources, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department’s intelligence division concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably did not give the order to kill Navalny”.
“Some European intelligence agencies have been informed of the American position” notes the paper.
Earlier, Putin told reporters that shortly before Navalny’s death in prison, he was offered to exchange him for “some people imprisoned in Western countries.” According to the Russian president, he agreed without fully hearing what the other was saying. The only condition Putin said he set was that Navalny could not return to Russia.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to specify who Navalny could have been replaced with.
On February 16, the branch office of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region reported that Navalny had died in the penal camp. According to the penitentiary authority, he became ill and passed out after a walk. The medical workers arrived immediately, but their resuscitation attempts, which lasted more than 30 minutes, failed.
