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RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR Putin has rejected reports that country’s security services were behind the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, saying that if they were, the opposition leader would no longer be alive.
The Russian opposition leader fell violently ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow in August and was hospitalised in the Russian city of Omsk before being transported to Berlin by plane.
Experts of several Western countries concluded that the Kremlin critic was poisoned with the Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent – a claim that Moscow has repeatedly denied.
A joint media report this week revealed what it said were the names and photos of chemical weapons experts from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) that had tailed Navalny for years.
Speaking to reporters at his annual end-of-year press conference Putin described the report as “the legalisation of materials from the American special services”, adding that the Kremlin critic “has their support”.
The Russian leader said that if Navalny was supported by US special services, then Russia should of course tail him.
“But this does not at all mean that it is necessary to poison him. Who needs him?” Putin said.
If the Russian special services had wanted to poison Navalny, “they would have taken it to the end,” he said.
The joint report on Navalny lead by the investigative website Bellingcat said that the FSB agents had shadowed the opposition leader on a regular basis since 2017.
Bellingcat said it had made the conclusion based on volumes of data, including phone logs and travel records.
The joint report with CNN, Der Spiegel and Russian outlet The Insider did not establish any direct contact between the 44-year-old opposition leader and the named agents.
In response to the poisoning, the European Union has imposed entry bans and frozen the bank accounts of six people suspected of being responsible, including FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov.
Navalny has said he will return to Russia once he has made a full recovery in Germany.
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Thats one way of putting it.
@Paul Furey: that’s one way of Putin it!! I’ll get my Coat.
@Colm Cork: haaaa
Wow!
It’s the thought of incompetence rather than murderous intent that gets under his skin.
The use of this agent was a clear signal to all dissenters within Russia.
@Phil O’ Meara: He is ex FSB himself, he holds his countrymen and ex service people he served with in high regard, he’d be disappointed in them, makes sense
So, in effect Putin is saying that when they kill people they stay dead. Nope, nothing incriminating there then …
Bellingcat are amazing. They do a brilliant podcast. Much respect
I think that this whole thing was just a setup by Western Intelligence aimed at sabotaging Nord Stream 2 . It was pretty incompetently done which is evidenced by the lack of support in Europe for real sanctions . As for Navalny , he is a creature of American Intelligence with minimal support in Russia . Pro Western liberals are generally loathed over there .
@Des Hanrahan: If you bother yourself to read the extremely comprehensive Bellingcat investigation, you’d hopefully give up on the usual ‘Russia didn’t do nuffin’ line.
Seriously. Read it. Fantastic investigative journalism.
@▪️: Bellingcat and it’s founder Elliot Higgins are not a credible source of information . They do not do ” journalism” but rather present Intelligence Leaks as Journalism . Check out what Seymour Hersh , Oleg Kashin ( a fierce Putin critic) and even Mark Urban have to say about this organisation .
@Des Hanrahan: Ah. So no actual comment on the substance of the report then. And your examples of Bellingcat critics are pulled directly from a very dishonest RT article yesterday… nice one!
https://www.rt.com/russia/509822-bellingcat-navalny-western-intelligence-ties/
You’re invoking Sy ‘Bin Laden didn’t do 9/11 and Assad has never used chemical weapons’ Hersh – well he’s a great source – and Oleg ‘annexing Crimea was a great idea’ Kashin. Doesn’t really strike me as impartial either? Mark Urban didn’t criticise Bellingcat even though that RT piece twisted it to try and suggest he did.
Even if they are ‘just’ intelligence leaks, which I haven’t seen any evidence of, the evidence they present against the GRU is irrefutable… surely we should be focusing on the fact that the GRU have once again been caught red handed in the nasty business of clandestine poisonings?
@▪️: My criticism of Bellingcat still stands . They decline to be open about how they are funded but it is known that a considerable part comes from US and British Intelligence which automatically disqualifies them as a credible information source . RT is open about where it’s money comes from . The standard of actual journalism there is actually quite high .
As for yourself , you are hiding behind anonymity which is called trolling . Do you work for a Western Intelligence Agency ( even on the side ) by any chance ?
@Des Hanrahan: Bellingcat lists its donors here
https://www.bellingcat.com/about/
so your assertion is utter balderdash. The standard of journalism in RT is not high at all especially if the story is about the Russian criminal kleptocracy. That dodgy Facebook account with no friends, no posts is evidence that you could be a troll too.
@Des Hanrahan: I read RT a good bit just to remind myself how easily disinformation can concocted and spread. Funny how many times you then see their talking points pop up all over the internet… as we saw just now with your good self.
Fortunately, Des, not everyone who has the neck to disagree with your considered defence of Vladimir Putin and Russian hit squads is a Western intelligence agent. I just disagree with you. Shocking, I know. Also don’t really want to be identified on the internet, I don’t know you, thanks anyway.
As pointed out above, Bellingcat are open with their funding. You haven’t made a single criticism of their piece on Navalny, just innuendo about their intentions. Says a lot.
@SteoG: The funding details you quote are for the Dutch subsidiary not for the main part in the UK for which details aren’t available . The National Endowment for Democracy is part of the US Intelligence Complex .
I disagree about the quality of journalism on RT .
As for my Facebook account , there is nothing dodgy about it . I simply follow recommended security procedures . Once hacked ; twice very cautious .
@Des Hanrahan: RT is Russian propaganda, straight up. Sometimes they get a good string of words together and occasionally they land on facts but at the end of the day they are just plain old propaganda.
@Drunk in Dublin: Western Corporate Main Stream Media is also propaganda , masquerading as balanced reporting and comment . RT at least is honest that they are presenting things as Russia sees them . They also provide a platform for people (Westerners) to express views that the MSM don’t necessarily want spread .
@Des Hanrahan: Your Facebook account is dodgy. That is exactly how Russian bots work. Straight to the defence of the chief Kleptocrat Vlad and Mother Russia. Making unfounded assertions without evidence is a ploy straight from the Russia troll playbook. We know you Russians shoot down civil airliners X 2, blow up nuclear power stations, irradiate and murder your citizens and do all sorts of nasty things. Russia is known for its incompetence. Coming on here and making assertions without evidence means your assertions can be dismissed without evidence.
@SteoG: Strawman arguments from Trolls.( One person with multiple accounts perhaps?) Anyway I’m flattered, and my comments are valid.
Oh that’s not the big hit defence he thinks it is.
Putin is a complete and utter knob. Does he really think that the rest of the world believe someone else was behind the poisoning. Putin is like trump he wants to hang on to power at all costs. The mans seriously needs help.
@paul mccoy: Hang on to power at all costs? He will be stepping down in January.
It’s mental that a leader of a global nuclear superpower, he essentially admits that if they wanted someone dead they would just do it and there no way they would survive.
How incompetent are Russian security services? They leave their fingerprints all over every crimes scene and only do stuff that is beneficial to their enemies.
‘If he dies, he dies…’ Ivan Drago – Rocky IV
@The Alchemist’s Head: Maybe it was Drago that poisioned him
The man is right. But we are so trusting of our western sources that we dont the the truth. Look at the corruption in the US. Interfere in every country and destroy most. Putin has massive support by the people in Russia.
@Mark Gough: Yeah, lets all trust Russia!! Good one pal
@Mark Gough: no, he doesn’t.
Eery. Might be a bit risky to play ice hockey with the Vlad.
Or even take tea with him.
Well yeah that’s obvious. Strange thing about making Putin the boogie man is that if it were true, he keeps failing, even with decades of experience and the world deadliest posion. If they’re so incompetent, what do you have to fear. America in the other hand does done attacks killing innocent people around the world. Keep the circus going. How long do you think it will take Biden to start a war?
@Tony Ember: the guy hasn’t even been inaugurated yet and you’re already whining about him. Buckle up, buttercup, it’s going to be a fun four years. To answer your question, it is highly unlikely that Biden will “start a war” because he’s got a lot of work to do at home.
Putin have secret past cos he did agent KGB in East German DDR in 1985 as I went to museum about Berlin wall history, former KGB to FSB now
have your say