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 […] 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[, for which Russia also denies responsibility].
Reuters could not independently verify the Journal 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.”
He didn’t need to order is specifically. He was kept in prison in terrible conditions and died because of that. The outcome of his dying was still what Putin wanted (or at least didn’t care if it happened). No orders required.
This sort of reporting and claims from the intelligence community feels like obfuscation by using a technically true statement, but irrelevant to the overall issue.
“Won’t someone something something this priest…”
Ecaxlty. Imo it’s not of the best quality considering the original title and content form WSJ, " Putin Didn’t Directly Order Alexei Navalny’s February Death, U.S. Spy Agencies Find" WSJ article . Arch
" The assessment doesn’t dispute Putin’s culpability for Navalny’s death, but rather finds he probably didn’t order it at that moment(…) European intelligence agencies have been told of the U.S. view. Certain countries remain skeptical that Putin wouldn’t have had a direct hand in Navalny’s death"
At Reuters they like to add their own stuff quoting Ruzz officials and confusing the actual original content.