Vladimir Putin at his annual press conference on December 17, 2020. -

Kommersant / SIPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that his number one opponent, Alexei Navalny, had not been poisoned by his special services, because otherwise he would have died.

“The patient at the Berlin clinic has the support of the American special services (…) And as it is, he must be monitored by the special services.

But that does not mean that it should be poisoned, ”said Vladimir Poutine.

"If we had wanted, the case would have been completed," he blurted out at his annual press conference.

No proof of acting out

Vladimir Putin refuses to pronounce the name of his detractor, and refers to him in relation to the place of his hospitalization after his suspected poisoning.

He scanned a recent investigation by several media, including Bellingcat, CNN and Der Spiegel, which saw the hand of the FSB, the secret service heirs to the KGB of which Vladimir Putin was once the leader, behind the assassination attempt that targeted Alexei Navalny.

"This is not an investigation, but the legitimization of content (prepared) by the American special services," said the Russian head of state.

According to this survey, based on the analysis of data, particularly telephone and travel data leaked online in Russia, FSB agents specializing in chemical weapons had been tracking the opponent since 2017. They were notably present. August 20 in Tomsk, a town in Siberia where the poisoning took place, according to this long investigation.

However, the article does not establish any direct contact between these agents and the opponent, nor proof of an act or an order given.

Russia denies all accusations

Russia has repeatedly denied that the opponent was poisoned in Tomsk, and claimed that the toxic Novichok-type substance detected by Western laboratories after his hospitalization in Germany was not present in his body when he was treaty in Russia.

Various other versions have been evoked by Russian officials: a staging, voluntary poisoning of the person concerned, poisoning orchestrated by foreign special services, or health problems due to his diet or the consumption of alcohol.

Moscow has not opened a criminal investigation, saying it has no proof and accusing Germany of not sharing its information with Russian justice.

The opponent for his part said on Twitter Thursday that he had not followed the press conference of the Russian leader, because he was "all day (...) questioned by the German prosecution at the request of the Russian authorities".

Previously, he had ruled that Putin had given the order to kill him and that the names cited in Bellingcat's investigation were those of the executioners.

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