(Mirror) Alexei Navalny, a vocal critic of the Russian government, specifically President Vladimir Putin, may have been killed by a ‘KGB hallmark’ punch to the heart, according to claims made by a human rights campaigner.
While the official cause of Navalny’s death has not been disclosed, it is believed that he died from a technique often used by the KGB – a single punch to the heart.
Vladimir Osechkin, a human rights campaigner and Russian exile, spoke to The Times about the technique and why he believes it was used. He said that the bruising found on Navalny’s body matches this old method, which was commonly used by special forces divisions during the KGB’s peak.
Navalny was discovered in the Arctic penal colony on Christmas Day in 2023 and then was pronounced dead on Feb. 16, 2024 (Image:AFP via Getty Images)
“They trained their operatives to kill a man with one punch in the heart, in the centre of the body. It was a hallmark of the KGB,” he told the newspaper. This is why he and others, including Navalny’s widow Yulia, believe that the prison, located in the Arctic Circle, will not release Navalny’s body for 14 days.
Osechkin, who set up and runs the website Gulagu.net, which gathers accounts from both prisoners and workers in Russia’s jails, told The Times that he got this information from someone working in the penal colony where Navalny died last Friday.
Navalny was found there by his team on Christmas Day in 2023 after he had disappeared on Dec. 6. His whereabouts for those roughly 20 days are still unknown, and there are many theories about what happened to him during that period.
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s wife, accused Putin of the murder, stating that she believed he used a nerve agent (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
His lawyers were allowed to visit him occasionally, but only when the prison guards permitted it. They were also kept in the dark about many things, including his health.
In late December, Navalny reportedly fainted from hunger during one of his rare walks outside. His condition was kept secret for several days afterwards.
There are also claims that he was made to stay outside in freezing temperatures of minus 27 degrees Celsius for hours on end in open-air solitary confinement. This was despite other prisoners being allowed out for just one hour and in much less harsh conditions.
Putin was a member of the KGB for around 15 years, and Navalny was also his most outspoken and powerful critic, leading some to suspect foul play (Image:Getty Images)
Osechkin suggested that these cold spells “destroyed his body” and slowed his blood circulation “down to a minimum”. This would have made it easier to deliver the fatal blow that allegedly hit him in the chest, right over his heart, causing his death.
The source who spoke to Osechkin claimed that Navalny had to stay outside in the cold for about four hours, just before he died. Osechkin said being out in the cold like that could “very easy to kill someone, within seconds, if the operative has some experience in this.”
