Alexei Navalny was likely killed by a single blow to the heart, a technique used by the KGB, a source at the prison where the Putin critic was being held has reportedly claimed.
The bruises on the opposition leader’s body were consistent with the ‘one-punch’ execution method, Russian exile and human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin said.
“It’s an old method of the KGB special forces,” he said The times. ‘They trained their officers to kill a man with one blow to the heart, to the center of the body. It was a hallmark of the KGB.”
Osechkin, founder of the Gulagu.net group that collects testimonies from prisoners and workers in Russia’s notorious prisons, said his information came from a source who worked in the Arctic penal colony where Navalny died on Friday.
His widow has accused Putin of killing her husband, claiming he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok and that Russian authorities are trying to cover up the killing by refusing to release his body.
Alexei Navalny was likely killed by a single blow to the heart, a technique used by the KGB, it is claimed
Osechkin is the founder of the Gulagu.net group that collects testimonies from prisoners and workers in Russia’s infamous prisons
Before Putin became Russia’s leader, he served in the KGB as a foreign intelligence officer for about fifteen years
However, Osechkin remains unconvinced, saying authorities could have killed Navalny in any way they wanted, and would not have wanted to leave “a trace in his body and lead straight back to Putin.”
He claims Navalny was forced to spend between two and a half to four hours in an open-air solitary confinement room, where temperatures could drop to minus 27 degrees Celsius the day before his death.
Prisoners are normally kept outside for no more than an hour, under much less extreme conditions.
“I think they first destroyed his body by leaving him in the cold for a long time and minimizing blood circulation,” Osechkin explained.
“And then it becomes very easy to kill someone in a matter of seconds, if the officer has any experience with that.”
The single punch, a stealth killing technique reportedly used by KGB special forces to avoid leaving any indication of the cause of death, was then allegedly used.
Before becoming Russia’s leader, Putin served in the KGB as a foreign intelligence officer for about fifteen years, retiring in 1990 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Russian authorities have so far failed to provide a convincing explanation for the death of Navalny, the Russian president’s most prominent critic.
According to the State Prison, the 47-year-old died after going for a walk and feeling unwell.
However, a state-controlled channel on the messaging site Telegram later claimed that the cause of death was a blood clot.
Vladimir Putin pictured in his KGB uniform in the 1980s
Navalny’s family has been told they will not be able to access his body for another two weeks.
Osechkin said he believes the presence of FSB agents in the prison is proof that Mr. Navalny was killed by the Kremlin.
He added: “As far as I know from my sources, it was a special operation prepared several days in advance.”
“It was an order from Moscow, because without Moscow it would not have been possible to dismantle the cameras in the way they did.”
The development came after the Twitter account of Alexei Navalny’s widow was briefly suspended yesterday for alleged “violation of the rules”, amid growing concerns over the platform’s political impartiality.
Yulia Navalnaya’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, was quickly reinstated after a wave of online criticism.
The social network – owned by Elon Musk – later claimed that its anti-spam and tampering mechanism had ‘accidentally flagged’ her page.
The account was suspended just one day after Ms Navalnaya accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of murdering her husband and vowed to take over his work as an anti-corruption campaigner.
Musk, meanwhile, recently said there is “no way” Putin will lose the war in Ukraine.
In a video published on Monday, including part of it on .
The Russian opposition leader was reported dead by Russia’s prison service on February 16 after he reportedly went for a walk and felt unwell.
Navalny, an outspoken critic of Putin, served a 19-year prison sentence in a penal colony in the Arctic.
However, Navalnaya accused Russian authorities of killing her husband along with Novichok and covering up the return of his body until all traces of the nerve agent were gone.
“I shouldn’t have been here, I shouldn’t have shot this video,” she explained in an emotional clip posted to social media.
Lyudmila Navalnya (pictured) has fought to get her son’s body back from prison authorities
‘There should have been another person in my place. But that person was murdered by Vladimir Putin.”
Ms. Navalnaya went on to say that by “killing Alexei,” Putin had “killed half of me, half of my heart and my soul.”
The former economist and reluctant “first lady” of Russia’s opposition has long avoided the spotlight, rarely giving media interviews in an effort to shield their two children from the fallout of Navalny’s political career.
The family currently lives in an undisclosed location and is unlikely to return to Russia where they could face persecution.
However, since her husband’s death, Mrs. Navalnaya seemed more willing to take a public stand. She addressed EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday as Germany proposed a new round of retaliatory sanctions.
Her Twitter account was suspended just one day after it was created and four days after Navalny’s death.
A message on the account page read: ‘Account suspended. X suspends accounts that violate the X Rules.”
As outrage over the suspension mounted on the platform, Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation tagged Mr Musk himself in a post on X, asking him to “explain exactly what rules were broken” by Ms Navalnaya.
Less than an hour later, Ms. Navalnaya’s page was restored.
Twitter’s moderation account said: “We lifted the suspension on the account as soon as we became aware of the error and will update the defense.”
Before her account was suspended, Ms. Navalnaya had gone to X to urge the Kremlin to “return Alexei’s body and allow him to be buried with dignity.”
She also posted a clip from the nine-minute video claiming Putin killed her husband.
Since purchasing the social media platform in 2022, Musk has taken steps to reinstate a number of previously banned accounts, including that of former US President Donald Trump.
The Tesla founder has previously called himself a “free speech absolutist” and claimed he intended X to be a space where a wide range of beliefs could be discussed in a healthy way.
However, in recent months a series of prominent accounts – including eight journalists and others who had criticized the Israeli government – have been suspended.
Suspensions on