PING!
This Navalny dude got Epsteined. Big time.
I think the timing has zero to do “helping the west” (I think that meme is whishful thinking on the part of American pro-Putin folks) and 100% to do with upcoming Russian elections in March. That, and also maybe Putin observed that in Pakistan’s recent election most of the votes went to candidates of the party of an imprisioned opposition figure.
Putin may have decided to do things the ways he always wanted too.
One down....
Putin may have felt if Merrick Garland and Letetia James can be ruthless, so can he.
I asked the same questions when the news broke. Who stood to gain by the death of a man who was already frozen like Hans Solo, in a Siberian prison? Just weeks before the election where Putin is already assured victory.
Then again there is always the possibility that Putin is taunting the west. Pay ops are hard to read. It happened at roughly the same time as the FBI arrested another J6er, and the arrest of an informant who claimed Joe and Hunter each collected $5 million from Ukrainian business sources. I don’t think Putin cares to act so subtly to try to draw comparisons but some others have made the point - we are nailing and prosecuting the opposition and various dissidents too. It’s not a good look for us.
But, of course, a lot of Russian dissidents have died in mysterious circumstances. So who knows. Putin or people wanting to curry favor with Putin could have killed him. Or like the Nordstream pipeline, he was killed by anti-Putin forces and blame attributed to Putin. And no I have no idea who blew it up but like Norstream it seems odd to blow up your own pipeline, just like it seems odd to kill a man who is on ice and irrelevant at this moment. There was an attempt on his life before, and had he lived maybe there would be again. But right now, it doesn’t seem to advance Putin’s interests. Thus the only reason I can think of (of course I don’t know everything or every possible motive) for Putin to do it is to taunt the west - “you’re losing, you can’t stop me, you can’t even get aid passed, I do what I want”.
Imagine two piles of plates.
In one pile the top of one plate is poisoned.
Lunch time, the FSB is now dishing stuff out.
“They say deaths from cold weather may be attributed to stress on the cardiovascular system, leading to more heart attacks and strokes.”
They might have made Navalny’s hearing room very warm, making him very happy. Then they marched him out into the cold.