Putin's ex-speechewriter says he's 'lost his mind' and 'ordered' Navalny killing

17 February 2024 , 11:16

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Vladimir Putin has been blamed for opponent Alexei Navalny's death (Image: Getty Images)

Vladimir Putin's former speechwriter claims the Russian President was mentally unstable when allegedly giving the order to have opponent Alexei Navalny killed.

Russian authorities announced Navalny had died in prison on Friday. He was seen across the globe as Putin's biggest opposition in Russia, leading pro-democracy campaigns and highlighting corruption at the heart of the Kremlin.

Moscow has claimed Navalny dropped to the floor and felt unwell while on a walk before he quickly died, but leaders around the world have blamed Putin. Abbas Gallyamov - who previously served as the warmongering former KGB agent's speechwriter - says he believes Putin ordered Navalny to be killed.

It comes after he was last seen only one day before his death, looking well and laughing during a court hearing via video link. While Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya said she could not be certain of her husband's death as the Russian government is "always lying". But said if it is true, Putin and the Kremlin will be held accountable.

Navalny during his last court appearance

He also believes that this is a sign that the Russian President is "mentally unstable". Gallyamov told the Daily Express US: "When he was deciding to kill Navalny he was not mentally stable, he was emotional and I would say hysterical. He is very irrational and lives in his own world.

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"Putin is not mentally stable, he has very high ups and downs. He lost his mind. His mind is off balance. He is emotionally off balance. Over the past two years, he had disappeared for weeks at a time. That means he didn't know what to do, or what to say. He couldn't get himself together. After Prigozhin's mutiny in 2023, Putin was hysterical."

US President Joe Biden said on Friday he had "no doubt" that Putin was behind Navalny's death. Protests were held in Moscow and St Petersburg yesterday, but Russian police quickly cracked down on the dissent, arresting at least 100 people according to Russian human rights group OVD-info.

Navalny with his wife Yulia Navalnaya (ALEXEI NAVALNY INSTAGRAM/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

A courtroom video from February 15 shows the 47-year-old making a remote appearance from his prison in the Arctic Circle to a court in Kovrov. "Yesterday Navalny looked to be fine during a court hearing where he spoke via video link from his penal colony," Francis Scarr of BBC Monitoring wrote on X.

Speaking in Russian at the Munich Security Conference, Yulia Navalnaya said she did not know whether to believe the "terrible" news as it has only come from state sources in Russia and added Putin and his government are "always lying". But, she continued, if it is true, she "would like Putin and all his coterie, Putin's friends, his government" to know that they will be accountable for what they've done to "our country, to my family, and to my husband. They will be liable for that. That day will come very soon."

Navalny had been serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges in a remote prison near the Russian city of Kharp. He had been behind bars since he returned from Germany in January 2021, serving time on various charges that he has always denied. In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with Novichok while on a flight.

Charlie Bradley