Kremlin spokesman reiterates Putin’s statements about Russian intelligence surveilling Navalny
During a press briefing on Friday, December 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on President Vladimir Putin’s statements about why the Russian intelligence services “ought to keep an eye” on opposition figure Alexey Navalny.
Peskov told reporters that Russia’s intelligence agencies “keep an eye” on anyone who is in contact with foreign intelligence services or calls for a violent change of government.
Vladimir Putin spoke about the fact that the intelligence services keep an eye on those who are in contact with the intelligence services of other governments. And to that I can add that of course the intelligence services are keeping an eye on those who make statements calling for a violent change of power, and so on — which can be interpreted as a violation of the current legislation. Intelligence services keep an eye on such people around the world.
During his annual press conference on Thursday, December 17, Putin commented on a journalistic investigation that implicated a special FSB sub-unit in Alexey Navalny’s poisoning. Putin called the investigation a “legalization of materials from the American intelligence services.” He also noted that Russian intelligence ought to keep an eye on Navalny because he allegedly enjoys the support of U.S. intelligence. “But this in no way means that it’s necessary to poison him, who needs that? You see, if they’d wanted to [poison him], they would have finished [the job],” Putin said.
Read more about Navalny’s poisoning
- Just keeping an eye on him Putin dismisses poisoning attack allegations, repeating claims about Navalny’s ties to U.S. intelligence
- ‘Bellingcat’ joint investigation implicates FSB in Navalny poisoning
- ‘He slandered us’ Journalists respond to Putin’s allegations linking their work to Western intelligence agencies
- ‘This is a real terrorist act’ Navalny’s latest interview with ‘Ekho Moskvy’ about who poisoned him, in brief
Navalny’s poisoning
Alexey Navalny was on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow when he fell violently ill on August 20. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, where he was hospitalized in a coma; two days later he was transferred to Germany for treatment. On September 2, German officials confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the Novichok group of nerve agents. Navalny was discharged from the hospital on September 23. Russia denies any involvement in the poisoning.