Alexei Navalny ‘killed with punch to heart by KGB’

Bruising on Alexei Navalny’s body was reportedly consistent with a technique taught to the KGB and carried out after the victim was subjected to subzero temperatures for hours.

Flowers, candles and portraits of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at a makeshift memorial. Picture: AFP.

Alexei Navalny was likely to have been killed with a punch to the heart by KBG operatives after being exposed to subzero temperatures for several hours, it is claimed.

Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the human rights group Gulagu.net, told The London Times that bruising on Mr Navalny’s body was consistent with a “one-punch” technique taught to KGB special forces.

Citing a source working in the remote IK-3 Arctic penal colony where the Russian opposition leader died on Friday, Mr Osechkin said that before his death, Mr Navalny was forced to spend two and a half hours outdoors in an open-air solitary confinement space where temperatures could dip to minus 27C.

“I think that they first destroyed his body by keeping him out in the cold for a long time and slowing the blood circulation down to a minimum,” Mr Osechkin said. “And then it becomes very easy to kill someone, within seconds, if the operative has some experience in this.

“It is an old method of the KGB’s special forces divisions. They trained their operatives to kill a man with one punch in the heart, in the centre of the body. It was a hallmark of the KGB.”

Paris-based Mr Osechkin and his website (which translates as ‘No to the Gulag’) have become leading authorities on human rights abuses in Russia’s prison network, with sources among prisoners and jail officials.

Last week, Gulag.gu reported that officers from the FSB visited the prison two days before Mr Navalny’s death and disconnected some of its security cameras and listening devices; a sign the operation was ordered by the Kremlin, says Mr Osechkin.

“From what I know from my sources, it was a special operation that had been prepared several days in advance,” he told The Times. “It was a command from Moscow because without Moscow it would not have been possible to dismantle the cameras in the way that they did.”

The bleak Polar Wolf prison where Alexei Navalny was killed. Picture: AFP

The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta has reported that Mr Navalny’s body was taken to the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital. The newspaper said as of Saturday, no autopsy had been carried out but bruising had been found on his chest “consistent with heart massage,” potentially after cardiac arrest.

“They drove him to the morgue, brought him in, and then stationed two policemen in front of the door. They might as well have put up a sign saying ‘something mysterious is going on here!’ the newspaper reported.

“Right now we need to make sure that his body is transferred to Navalny’s family and to the west for testing,” said Mr Osechkin. “But there is a big risk that Putin’s special forces will cremate him instead.”

Mr Navalny’s widow on Monday accused President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband and vowed to continue his life’s work.

Yulia Navalnaya spoke as the Kremlin said it had no details about Mr Navalny’s death, while his mother Lyudmila continued to be denied access to his body. Officials have claimed Mr Navalny’s body is being held for “chemical analysis” and would not be released for another two weeks.

“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. I will continue to fight for the freedom of our country,” Ms Navalnaya said. “And I call on you to stand by me.”

Yulia Navalny, the wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has vowed to continue his work. Picture: Supplied.

Ms Navalnaya, an economist, stood by her husband as he galvanised mass protests in Russia, flying him out of the country when he was poisoned before defiantly returning to Moscow with him in 2021, knowing he would be jailed.

The announcement she will replace Mr Navalny is a momentous and unpredictable turn for Russia’s exiled and beleaguered opposition, left leaderless after Mr Navalny’s death.

Russia will hold a presidential election on March 15-17 in which Putin has no real challengers, with most the opposition exiled, behind bars or dead.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say how Mr Putin — who has not commented on the death — reacted to his main opponent dying. He also said the Kremlin had no results from an investigation into the death.

“At the moment, the results of the investigation have not been released, they are unknown,” Mr Peskov said.

He described Ms Navalnaya’s statement that Mr Putin killed her husband as “unfounded and vulgar”.

“I do not give a damn how the press secretary of a murderer comments on my words,” Ms Navalnaya shot back on social media.

“Give back the body of Alexei and let us bury him with dignity. Do not stop people from bidding farewell to him.”

With AFP