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Navalny, 47 when he died, was Putin's fiercest domestic critic.
His allies, branded extremists by the authorities, accused Putin
of having him murdered and have said they will provide proof to
back their allegation.
The Kremlin has denied any state involvement. Last month, Putin
called Navalny's demise "sad" and said he had been ready to hand
the jailed politician over to the West in a prisoner exchange
provided Navalny never return to Russia. Navalny's allies said
such talks had been under way.
The Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter,
said on Saturday that U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded
that Putin probably didn't order Navalny to be killed in
February.
It said Washington had not absolved the Russian leader of
overall responsibility for Navalny's death however, given the
opposition politician had been targeted by Russian authorities
for years, jailed on charges the West said were politically
motivated, and had been poisoned in 2020 with a nerve agent.
The Kremlin denies state involvement in the 2020 poisoning.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday he had seen the
Journal's report, which he said contained "empty speculation".
"I've seen the material, I wouldn't say it's high quality
material that deserves attention," Peskov told reporters when
asked about the matter.
Reuters could not independently verify the Journal report, which
cited sources as saying the finding had been "broadly accepted
within the intelligence community and shared by several
agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office
of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State
Department’s intelligence unit."
The U.S. assessment was based on a range of information,
including some classified intelligence, and an analysis of
public facts, including the timing of Navalny's death and how it
overshadowed Putin’s re-election in March, the paper cited some
of its sources as saying.
It cited Leonid Volkov, a senior Navalny aide, as calling the
U.S. findings naive and ridiculous.
(Reporting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Frances Kerry)
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