Navalny ‘died from sudden health failure, not murder’
VLADIMIR Putin’s chief opponent Alexei Navalny died from a “sudden failure in his health” and was not murdered, Russia’s ambassador to the UK claimed yesterday.
In a bizarre interview, Andrei Kelin said he had “no answer” why so many of President Putin’s critics and prominent Russians had died in mysterious circumstances.
The diplomat also claimed that he did not know of Sir Keir Starmer, despite the Russian taking up his London job in 2019 – the year before the MP became Labour leader.
Kelin, 66, also denied knowing who Yevgeny Prigozhin was – Putin’s one-time chef went on to command the Wagner mercenary outfit that attempted a coup in
Russia last June. They took a city and downed several Kremlin aircraft en route to Moscow before giving up. Pressed again on the rebel who died with nine others when their plane exploded in midair weeks later, Kelin said to his radio interviewer: “Yevgeny who?”
Moscow’s man also stuck to the official line over jailed reformer Navalny, 47, who died in February in an Arctic penal colony after complaining about malnourishment and mistreatment, sparking widespread condemnation. Kelin said: “It is absolutely wrong to think something difficult happened. These things happen.”
The ambassador added: “It was a sudden failure in his health.” Navalny was serving 19 years on extremism charges after a secret trial in one of Russia’s toughest penal colonies where temperatures plummet to -20C.
He had earlier been the victim of a poisoning attempt by the Russian regime and his death led to hundreds of Russians flocking to impromptu memorials across the country.
Kelin was being interviewed on LBC by Nick Ferrari who asked him why six of Putin’s opponents that he named had ended up dying in suspicious circumstances.
Kelin said: “Out of your list I know only one name, Navalny, all the rest are unfamiliar.”
He further denied that Russia had circulated stories about the health of the Princess of Wales, dismissing the rumours as “funny”.