'This Has Been Plotted': Why Did Kremlin Kill Navalny At This Particular Time?

Two things could be the deciding motive.

On February 16, the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia announced the death of Alexei Navalny. First, the politician was poisoned, then he was allowed to go abroad for treatment, then he was arrested and held in prisons for 3 years.

Why did Vladimir Putin kill him right now? Vladimir Milov, the former Minister of Energy of Russia and opposition activist, suggested on the air of the 24 Channel.

According to him, the head of the Kremlin is an NKVD follower and a sadist. Putin wanted to torture Alexei Navalny in a pre-trial detention center in unbearable conditions for several years before the murder.

"If you look at the last six months, we see that it was being prepared. Initially, Navalny was cut off from all communications and correspondence in the prison. Then in October, all lawyers who had been working with him for several years were arrested or sent into exile," the opposition activist said.

In December 2023, they were transferred to the isolated colony #3 called the Polar Wolf in the village of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. It functions as a "prison for especially dangerous recidivists." It is one of the northernmost and most remote prisons in Russia. They could do anything with Navalny there.

"Let's say the last straw before the murder of a Russian politician was two things:

Russia's presidential election in March. Putin is nervous about any information and feels insecure;

tension in the international arena. The head of the Kremlin feels that the situation is growing in his favor – someone is turning away from Ukraine, someone does not approve of the assistance.

In my opinion, the most idiotic "pessimism" and "everything is wasted." There was an article that read "we will all lose" and so on. Putin feels this, and wants to additionally send an impulse "I have a strong position", "I don't care about you in general", "I killed Navalny today and I will do something else tomorrow, and you will not do anything to me." When I was in Brussels I heard that almost everyone was talking about it and they agreed that this was not accidental at the beginning of the Munich Conference. This is such a message "I do everything I want," said Vladimir Milov.

Why was Navalny allowed abroad?

On August 20, 2020, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was flying to Moscow from Tomsk when he became ill in the plane. The board urgently landed in Omsk, the politician was hospitalized in serious condition with poisoning.

His team-mates believe that used poisoned tea against him. Navalny ell into a coma and with a ventilator. Russian doctors said that he was "non-transportable", but after a couple of days they still let him for treatment in Germany.

According to Milov, the Kremlin let Navalny go abroad because there was a different political situation. Putin's henchmen did not fully understand all the risks.

“Then mass protests began in Belarus, which was not expected in Russia. They strongly influenced and changed the attitude towards the opposition movement. They began to restrict it and declare it "extremist".

In addition, at about the same time, Vladimir Putin decided to prepare for the so-called "SVO" [the war - Ed.] in Ukraine, and he did not need the opposition at all, so he staged cleansing," said Vladimir Milov.