
Ukraine spy chief Kyrylo Budanov rejected conspiracy theorists’ claims that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was murdered by agents from the Kremlin.
The chief of the Kyiv’s Main Directorate of Intelligence told journalists that they may be disappointed by the news, “but as far as we know, he indeed died as a result of a blood clot. And this has been more or less confirmed.”
Navalny died from a blood clot (he was probably vaccinated and boosted).
Putin didn’t kill him.
pic.twitter.com/1o3FjehO9f— Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis (@DrLoupis) February 26, 2024
Budanov added, “this wasn’t sourced from the internet, but unfortunately, natural [causes].”
Wild rumors swirled after Navalny, considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leading critic, died on Feb. 16. He was incarcerated in one of the nation’s most notorious prisons in northern Siberia while serving a 19-year sentence critics charged was for his political activities.
His death resulted in a spat over custody of his body.
A spokesperson for Navalny’s team, Kira Yarmysh, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that his body was handed over to his mother. She thanked supporters who demanded this action after officials refused to do so for a week.
Russian officials charged that the Western media engaged in “vulgar” speculation after Navalny’s death. Putin has not commented publicly on the death of his opponent, which was consistently ruled due to “natural causes” by the Kremlin.
His death in the arctic Polar Wolf penal colony came as he was taking a walk. Officials cited the cause as “sudden death syndrome.”
Latvian President Edgar Rinkeish was harsh in his assessment. “Whatever you think about Alexi Navalny, as a politician he was just brutally murdered by the Kremlin.”
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, accused the Russian president of torturing her husband to death. Before his remains were released, she exhorted Putin to “give us the body of my husband. You tortured him alive, and now you keep torturing him dead. You mock the remains of the dead.”
However, it must give pause even to Moscow’s harshest critics to learn that it’s a Ukrainian expert who exonerated Putin.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin continued to call the West’s reaction “hysterical.” Putin notoriously never mentioned the name of his political rival in public and no comment on his passing is expected.