Gilbert Doctorow discusses the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, which has sparked a wave of condemnation from Western leaders who view it as another act of aggression by Vladimir Putin. Doctorow suggests that British intelligence is actually behind Navalny’s death. He argues that Navalny, who has been largely forgotten in Russia and deemed irrelevant due to his anti-corruption campaign, was killed as part of a Western effort to vilify Putin and counteract Russia’s soft power initiatives, exemplified by Tucker Carlson’s recent coverage of Russia.
He utilizes the principle of cui bono (who benefits) to argue against the likelihood of the Kremlin’s involvement in Navalny’s death, suggesting instead that it serves Western interests by distracting from positive Russian narratives. The piece points to a pattern of incidents occurring in the U.K., such as the deaths of Boris Berezovsky and Alexander Litvinenko, as well as the poisoning of Alexander Skripal and his daughter Yulia with Novichok, a nerve agent allegedly used against Navalny as well.
