Putin admits he want­ed Naval­ny gone

Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin men­tioned the late oppo­si­tion leader Alex­ei Naval­ny for the first time in pub­lic while claim­ing vic­to­ry in a man­aged elec­tion for his fifth term in the Krem­lin.
“As for Mr. Naval­ny. Yes, he passed away. This is always a sad event,” Putin said after the polls closed in Rus­sia. “But we’ve had oth­er cas­es when peo­ple passed away in places of deten­tion. Doesn’t this hap­pen in the U.S.? It’s hap­pened more than once.” 
Naval­ny died in an Arc­tic penal colony last month, a dead­ly denoue­ment of a years­long sto­ry of dis­si­dence that Russ­ian author­i­ties coun­tered with an unsuc­cess­ful assas­si­na­tion attempt and then his impris­on­ment. Putin claimed that Navalny’s death occurred after the Krem­lin chief had agreed to release him.

Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin speaks on a vis­it to his cam­paign head­quar­ters after a pres­i­den­tial elec­tion in Moscow on March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zem­lianichenko)

“A few days before Naval­ny pa …