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One might have imagined that Vladimir Putin would be reluctant to appear today at his annual press conference, that he might even be a bit nervous.
After all, quite a bit of information came out this week, just outside the Kremlin walls. An international team of journalists, including those from “Bellingcat” and “Spiegel”, has published material that puts enormous pressure on the Russian secret service FSB and therefore on top management.
Incriminating passenger and phone lists
According to the investigation, FSB agents not only followed the Russian opponent Alexei Navalny for a long time. The team of agents was also in close contact with experts in chemical warfare agents, and it was there that Navalny was poisoned with the chemical warfare agent Novichok in the summer.
The research is supported by a large amount of data: phone lists, flight passenger lists, etc. If everything is correct, you just have to add 1 and 1, and you will know who is responsible for the crime.
Reason Putin is nervous?
No way. The head of state seemed as confident as usual at his annual press conference. When asked by a journalist close to the Kremlin about the Navalny affair, he said that the US secret services were behind the investigation.
And furthermore: “The patient in the Berlin clinic (ie Navalny, editor’s note) has the support of the American secret services. That means our secret services should keep an eye on him. “But that doesn’t mean he has to be poisoned. ‘Who needs Navalny? And if they really wanted to poison him, they probably would have ended it.” Putin laughed when he said that.
Kremlin-style denials
Putin pointed at the US, brought Navalny closer to US services, and poked fun at that, too. He also complained that the West did not want to cooperate with Russia to solve the case.
It is a well-known line of defense for the Kremlin: blame, portray yourself as a victim. This happened with the annexation of Crimea, with the downing of the Malaysian airliner MH17, with the poison attack on former secret agent Sergei Skripal in Britain. So now also with Navalny.
Western conspiracy against Russia
Such denials are not credible. This is still not proof that Putin or the Russian government were really behind the Navalny attack. But it has to be said once again: the Russian president is wiping the facts off the table, he doesn’t even bother to refute them. Instead, paint a picture of a Western conspiracy against Russia on the wall. That should be enough, and for part of the Russian audience it might be enough.
For Putin it is a convenient strategy: if he hides behind a conspiracy theory, the facts do not have to make him nervous.
David nauer
Russia Correspondent, SRF
