Navalny, 47, was Putin’s fiercest domestic critic. His allies, designated by authorities as extremists, accused Putin of ordering his assassination and said they would provide evidence to support their claim.
The Kremlin denies any state involvement.
Last month, Putin called Navalny’s death “sad” and said he was prepared to hand over the jailed politician to the West in a prisoner exchange on the condition that “Navalny never returns to Russia.”
Navalny’s allies said such talks were underway.
The Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, said U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded that Putin likely did not order Navalny’s assassination in February.
The article states that Washington has not absolved the Russian leader of full responsibility for Navalny’s death, as the opposition politician has been persecuted by Russian authorities for years, jailed on charges that the West says are politically motivated, and was poisoned in 2020 with a nerve agent.
The Kremlin denies involvement in the 2020 poisoning.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday he had seen the Journal report, which he said contained “empty speculation.”
“I saw the material, I could not say that it is a high-quality material that deserves attention,” Peskov commented to reporters when asked about the matter.
Reuters said in a comment to the Journal article that it could not independently verify the report, which cited sources as saying the finding was “widely accepted in the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the intelligence division of the State Department”.
