Alexei Navalny death: KGB likely used its infamous ‘single punch to heart’ technique to kill Vladimir Putin's critic

Amid suspense over the cause of the death of Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a human rights activist has claimed that KGB's infamous "single punch to the heart" technique might have been used to kill the most vociferous critic of President Vladimir Putin. Alexei Navalny's reported bruises on head and chest are consistent with the single punch method, Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the human rights group Gulagu.net said.

KGB is Russia's main security agency which is responsible for for internal security, counterintelligence, and suppressing dissent within the nation. The KGB agents are known to neutrilise the critics of the Russian government within or outside the country.

“It is an old method of the KGB’s special forces divisions,” Vladimir Osechkin told the Times of London. “They trained their operatives to kill a man with one punch in the heart, in the center of the body. It was a hallmark of the KGB,” the human rights activist added.

Vladimir Osechkin said that Alexei Navalny must have been kept outdoors in sub-zero temperatures for more than 2 hours, which slowed down his blood circulation and weakened his body. “I think that they first destroyed his body by keeping him out in the cold for a long time and slowing the blood circulation down to a minimum,” the activist said.

“And then it becomes very easy to kill someone, within seconds, if the operative has some experience in this,” Vladimir Osechkin added.

He mentioned the testimonies of other prisoners of the Arctic penal colony who claimed that the prison guards used similar methods to kill their fellow inmates.

Russian authorities not handing over Alexei Navalny's body

The fresh claim comes amid continuous delay in handing over Alexei Navalny's body by the authorities in Russia. Earlier, a paramedic claimed that bruises were found on Alexie Navalny's head and chest and the doctors are skeptical about conducting the autopsy as they are scared that they will be forced to change their findings, making them part of the coverup.

“Some said that an order had come from Moscow to await the arrival of specialists from the capital, while others said that the hospital doctors themselves had refused to perform an autopsy. The case is political, and it is not clear how it will turn out. And if you perform an autopsy and receive a direct order to change the result, you can’t get out of it. And you can also be made the guilty party. … But if there was no autopsy, there’s nobody to ask," the paramedic told Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe.