US intelligence says Putin 'probably' not behind Alexei Navalny's death: report

• Putin was ready to hand Navalny over to West in prisoner exchange.
• US doesn't absolve Putin of all responsibility for Navalny's death.
• US verdict based on classified intelligence, public facts analysis.
  

The intelligence agencies in the United States have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably didn't order opposition politician Alexei Navalny's murder earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Saturday reported.

Navalny, who was 47 when he died, was a staunch critic of Putin, 71, and was killed at an Arctic prison camp in February.

His allies accused the Russian president of having him murdered and said they will provide proof to back their allegation.

However, the Kremlin has denied any involvement.

Last month, Putin called Navalny's demise "sad" and said he had been ready to hand the jailed politician over to the West in a prisoner exchange provided Navalny never return to Russia. Navalny's allies said such talks had been under way, Reuters reported.

According to the WSJ report, that cited unnamed people familiar with the matter, the US intelligence agencies had concluded that Putin probably didn't order Navalny to be killed.

It said Washington had not absolved the Russian leader of overall responsibility for Navalny's death, however, given the opposition politician had been targeted by Russian authorities for years, jailed on charges the West said were politically motivated, and had been poisoned in 2020 with a nerve agent.

The Kremlin denies state involvement in the 2020 poisoning.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday he had seen the Journal's report, which he said contained "empty speculation".

"I've seen the material, I wouldn't say it's high quality material that deserves attention," Peskov told reporters when asked about the matter.

Reuters could not independently verify the WSJ report, which cited sources as saying the finding had been "broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department’s intelligence unit."

The US assessment was based on a range of information, including some classified intelligence, and an analysis of public facts, including the timing of Navalny's death and how it overshadowed Putin's re-election in March, the paper cited some of its sources as saying.

It cited Leonid Volkov, a senior Navalny aide, as calling the US findings "naive and ridiculous".