Republican candidate for the US presidential elections, Donald Trumpsuggested a potential connection between the Russian president Vladimir Putin and the death of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
What happened: Trump has implied that Putin may be linked to Navalny’s death last month in an Arctic prison.
When asked who was responsible for the death of the Russian opposition figure, he responded, “I don’t know, but maybe, I mean maybe, I could say probably, I don’t know,” in an interview with Fox News, Lo states Politic.
“He’s a young man, so statistically he would have been alive for a long time… so something unusual happened,” Trump commented.
Navalny died on February 16 in a penal colony. Both the EU and the US have directly accused Russia of being responsible for his death and are considering imposing new sanctions on the Kremlin.
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Despite the growing tension, Trump, who currently leads the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden in general election polls in several key swing states, he maintained a lenient stance toward Putin. This approach is causing alarm among Western allies, especially in light of Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.
Trump has consistently promised to suspend aid to Ukraine and urge Kiev to negotiate with Russia. During the interview, he expressed hope that he would not have to choose between Putin “swallowing” Ukraine or sending weapons to Kiev.
Because matter: Trump’s comments come on the heels of a series of events following Navalny’s death. The opposition leader’s death sparked protests in 32 Russian cities, resulting in more than 400 detentions. Trump had previously compared Navalny’s death to his legal troubles in the United States, implying that both were the result of corrupt political systems.
Russian authorities, however, maintain that Navalny died of natural causes. Sergei Naryshkin, the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said in an interview that “sooner or later life ends and people die.” Putin himself called Navalny’s death an “unfortunate accident” and suggested he was willing to release Navalny in a prisoner exchange.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
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