by Andrea Pinto
The accusations, then the denials. The fact is that the opponent of Putin's regime, Alexei Navalny, has died and, according to some rumors revealed by various external sources, there is a noticeable bruise in the center of his chest on his body. Precisely that bruise inspires the different versions/backgrounds that are made in the press on the cause of his sudden death, revealing obscure retrospectives which, however, in the end shroud the case in that aura of thick mystery that has always characterized suspicious deaths at the hands of of the Kremlin.
With a blow to the heart, after being exposed to freezing temperatures for a long time, Alexei Navalny lost his life, according to a source cited by the Times. This comes after Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, directly accused President Vladimir Putin of poisoning her with the nerve agent Novichok.
Meanwhile, in response to his mother Lyudmila's appeal directly to Putin to get her son's body back, a court in the far north of Russia has agreed to examine a complaint filed by team of Navalny for the failure to release the body. However, the hearing was set for March 4, beyond the 14-day period announced by Russian investigators to conduct chemical tests before handing the body over to the family.
His mother Lyudmila, who arrived in the Arctic region on the Saturday following the news of his death, has so far tried in vain to see her son, contacting the managers of the IK-3 penal colony where he was detained and the hospital in the city of Salekhard. However, she only received unofficial information that the body was in the morgue of the latter hospital. The hearing will be held in Salekhard behind closed doors.
A new hypothesis on the causes of Navalny's death was proposed Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the human rights group Gulagu.net, who spoke to the British newspaper. According to Osechkin, citing a source working in the IK-3 prison, the bruises on the opponent's body are consistent with the single punch technique, previously used by Soviet KGB hitmen. Before his death, Navalny, 47, was forced to spend more than two and a half hours outdoors, where temperatures could drop to -27 degrees.
An ambulance service worker at Salekhard hospital said that the bruises on Navalny's body were consistent with a restraint action due to convulsions, while the one on his chest was consistent with a cardiac massage. Rishi Sunak's British government announced sanctions against six Russian officials accused of being responsible for the death, including prison guard colonel Vadim Kalinin and five of his deputies.
London, along with others, is calling for a transparent investigation. However, Putin maintains silence and today went to Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, to participate in the opening ceremony of the Future Games, an international event that combines traditional and digital competitions. Furthermore, the Russian president visited an aircraft factory, where he experienced operating a Tu-160M nuclear bomber.
Meanwhile, Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, currently in prison serving a 25-year sentence, personally accused the Russian president of being responsible for Navalny's death, stressing that Navalny was his personal prisoner and that only on his orders poisoners could act. Finally, an organization of Russian lawyers, Perviy Otdel, identified the Russian-American citizen arrested in Russia on charges of high treason as Ksenia Karelina Khavana, 32, as reported by the New York Times.
The thirteenth package of EU sanctions and the reactions in the USA
Meanwhile, the EU has reached an agreement in principle on the 13th package of sanctions against Russia, while Donald Trump has once again compared his situation to that of Navalny, denouncing persecution in the United States. Regarding the death of the Russian opponent, Trump said that it would have been much better if Navalny had not returned to Russia in 2021, calling the event horrible. US President Joe Biden responded by calling it scandalous that his Republican rival talks about Navalny without ever condemning Putin.
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