Russian President, Vladimir Putin has claimed in his annual news conference that if Russian special services had wanted to kill opposition politician, Alexey Navalny, they would have “finished it.”
Putin’s comments came in response to a question that was posed to him at the conference following an investigation by the investigative group, Bellingcat, which uncovered evidence that Russia’s Federal Security Service (the FSB) formed an elite team specializing in nerve agents that trailed Navalny for years.
Navalny was poisoned with the toxin Novichok in August and nearly died. After initial treatment in Omsk, Siberia, he was taken to a clinic in Berlin. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement in his poisoning with Putin intimating that Navalny “is enjoying the support of the US special services.”
“Listen, we know very well what this is… this is a legalization, not some investigation but the legalization of the materials of American special services.
“What, we don’t know they are tracking location? Our special services know this perfectly well, the FSB officers and officers of other agencies know it. They use their phones where they deem necessary, not to conceal their location. And if it’s like that — and it is — it means this patient in the Berlin clinic is enjoying the support of the US special services in this.
“And if that’s correct, then that’s interesting, then of course [our] special services need to keep an eye on him. But that doesn’t mean he needs to be poisoned, who needs him anyway? If [they] wanted to, they would’ve probably finished it.
“But in this case, his wife asked me, and I immediately gave the order to let him out of the country to be treated in Germany… This is a trick to attack the leaders [in Russia].”
President Putin then described reports about Navalny as “implanted stories.”
“There is actually nothing surprising about the fact that these implanted stories are taking place. They have always been and will always be,” he said.
Also in the press conference, President Putin addressed the question of Russia’s troubled relations with the United States, saying he hoped some of the problems would be resolved under the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.
“We proceed from the fact that the elected president of the United States will understand what’s going on — he is an experienced man, both in domestic and foreign policy,” Putin said.
He further denied long-running claims that Russia meddled in the 2016 US election in an effort to put Mr Trump in the White House.
Mr Putin has long been accused of helping get Mr Trump elected in the US, but told reporters that state hackers had nothing to do with the election.
“Russian hackers did not help the still-acting US president get elected and did not intervene in the internal affairs of this great country,” Putin said. “This is just a speculation. It is a pretext to hurt US-Russia relations; it’s a pretext to not acknowledge the legitimacy of the still-acting head of state of the US due to internal political reasons.”
The Russian President also touched on the coronavirus pandemic stating that around 70 million citizens have been inoculated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
The 68-year old confirmed that he has not been inoculated with Sputnik V, as it is yet to be recommended for people older than 60.
“The vaccines that are being circulated among the general population today are intended for people in a certain age group, and the vaccines have not yet reached people like me,” said Putin.
“I’m a law-abiding citizen in that matter, I listen to the recommendations of our specialists and so far haven’t taken it. But I will do it as soon as it becomes a possibility.”
