Everyone expected Putin to kill Navalny in prison, and here we are

• Alexey Navalny lost consciousness after taking a walk and died, per Russia's Federal Prison Service.
• Russia experts say Putin and the Kremlin likely ordered his execution.
• They have a track record of killing and ordering the killing of political opponents, they said.

Alexey Navalny went out for a walk, then abruptly died.

At least, that is what prison officials said on Friday, announcing the death of Russia's main opposition politician.

Few believe it.

Analysts, Western leaders, and indeed Navalny himself had long predicted that he would be killed by the Russian authorities who had him in custody since 2021.

Maxim Alyukov, a political sociologist at King's College London with a focus on Russia, said the death was consistent with a "political killing."