Fact check
Is it true: Alexei Navalny death in IK-3 Polar Wolf colony (16 Feb 2024)?
Partly — it's more complicated than the claim suggests.
Navalny died in Russian state custody on 16 Feb 2024. Russian authorities gave no meaningful cause of death and held his body for over two weeks. The US ODNI assessed Putin "most likely" approved the killing. No independent autopsy has been conducted. The death is real; state responsibility is assessed as highly probable by Western intelligence but not forensically confirmed.
The claim
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died on 16 February 2024 at Penal Colony IK-3 "Polar Wolf" in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. He had been transferred there from IK-6 Melekhovo in December
Key evidence
ODNI assessment: Putin most likely approved Navalny's death
Russia claims death was from natural causes — not forensically refuted or confirmed
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