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If Putin wanted to do something that is untraceable he wouldn't use a nerve agent that is exclusively used by his regime. He could easily stage a 'robbery gone

If Putin wanted to do something that is untraceable he wouldn't use a nerve agent that is exclusively used by his regime. He could easily stage a 'robbery gone wrong' plot or an unfortunate car accident if he wanted to truly hide the assassination. The reason his regime uses methods like Novichok and polonium poisoning is because he wants to send a message along with killing. He's always going to deny doing it even when it's obvious that he did.

jl6 6y ago
This is the scary bit - the truth is irrelevant because nobody has any means of holding the perpetrators to account.
- pmoriarty 6y ago
  "nobody has any means of holding the perpetrators to account" Of course they do. As individuals, the people at the top are always virtually powerless without support. This is why dictators always take control of their country's media and spin a narrative that makes them seem innocent, heroes, or victims of foreign intervention. If no one had any means to hold them to account they wouldn't bother doing any of this, nor would they bother to spy on, much less assassinate any opposition figures, and their acts would be a lot more brazen, without any attempts to disguise them or feign innocence. Russia has had multiple revolutions in the last century, not to mention constant power struggles within the government itself. Anyone in power in Russia is going to be keenly aware of this, and know how important it is to keep public opinion on their side and crush any opposition.
SXX 6y ago
You still seems to believe that they're competent enough to create believable "unfortunate accident". The point of using nerve agent is that Kremlin believed it to be untraceable. It's very much opposite of polonium. Obviously it's just my view, but to give you an example. Nemtsov was one of old Russian political leader who been neither popular nor real danger to regime end up just shoot right in front of Kremlin. And it's caused a lot of backslash and place of his death is still PITA for Putin regime. Navalny is more popular by two orders of magnitude at least. On top of that everyone know that he's being watched literally 24/7. If he die in suspicios car accident or something like that it's might actually trigger a lot of bad things or might finally put some real beneficiaries of regime (like oligarchs, kids and other family members) under sanctions. It's not that hard to get someone killed in Russia, but really this is not Stalin's totalitarian country and no one want risk losing all their capital and property in western countries. On other side anyone can die of heart attack during flight and it's impossibly hard to prove it was poisoning afterwards.
- GVIrish 6y ago
  You're right that Putin has had people murdered in far more conspicuous fashion before, and there's now the big risk of Magnitsky sanctions. It's hard to say whether the blowback and sanctions from an assassination would be worse from an 'unfortunate accident' or someone dying suddenly and inexplicably in a manner very similar to a nerve agent that Russia exclusively uses. It seems like for them to get away with the Novichok poisoning they should've chosen to assassinate Navalny locally so they're be little chance of getting the victim to a neutral location for treatment or autopsy. That's just my speculation, ultimately this whole situation could be explained by malice and incompetence.

jl6 6y ago

This is the scary bit - the truth is irrelevant because nobody has any means of holding the perpetrators to account.

pmoriarty 6y ago
"nobody has any means of holding the perpetrators to account" Of course they do. As individuals, the people at the top are always virtually powerless without support. This is why dictators always take control of their country's media and spin a narrative that makes them seem innocent, heroes, or victims of foreign intervention. If no one had any means to hold them to account they wouldn't bother doing any of this, nor would they bother to spy on, much less assassinate any opposition figures, and their acts would be a lot more brazen, without any attempts to disguise them or feign innocence. Russia has had multiple revolutions in the last century, not to mention constant power struggles within the government itself. Anyone in power in Russia is going to be keenly aware of this, and know how important it is to keep public opinion on their side and crush any opposition.

SXX 6y ago

You still seems to believe that they're competent enough to create believable "unfortunate accident". The point of using nerve agent is that Kremlin believed it to be untraceable. It's very much opposite of polonium. Obviously it's just my view, but to give you an example. Nemtsov was one of old Russian political leader who been neither popular nor real danger to regime end up just shoot right in front of Kremlin. And it's caused a lot of backslash and place of his death is still PITA for Putin regime. Navalny is more popular by two orders of magnitude at least. On top of that everyone know that he's being watched literally 24/7. If he die in suspicios car accident or something like that it's might actually trigger a lot of bad things or might finally put some real beneficiaries of regime (like oligarchs, kids and other family members) under sanctions. It's not that hard to get someone killed in Russia, but really this is not Stalin's totalitarian country and no one want risk losing all their capital and property in western countries. On other side anyone can die of heart attack during flight and it's impossibly hard to prove it was poisoning afterwards.

GVIrish 6y ago
You're right that Putin has had people murdered in far more conspicuous fashion before, and there's now the big risk of Magnitsky sanctions. It's hard to say whether the blowback and sanctions from an assassination would be worse from an 'unfortunate accident' or someone dying suddenly and inexplicably in a manner very similar to a nerve agent that Russia exclusively uses. It seems like for them to get away with the Novichok poisoning they should've chosen to assassinate Navalny locally so they're be little chance of getting the victim to a neutral location for treatment or autopsy. That's just my speculation, ultimately this whole situation could be explained by malice and incompetence.