Putin promoted to senior position in Russia's prison service after Navalny's death

MADRID, 20 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was promoted this Tuesday to a senior position in the country's Federal Penitentiary Service just four days after the death of the influential opponent Alexei Navalni, who died while he was imprisoned in a Yamalo-Nenets prison.

Putin has thus granted the deputy director of the service, Valeri Boyarinev, the special rank of colonel general, a distinction with which he recognizes the work carried out by the prison officer, according to a presidential decree published this Tuesday.

The local department of the penitentiary service reported last Friday that Navalny collapsed shortly after suddenly becoming unwell and died after several doctors tried to revive him without success.

Boyarinev has been working at the head of the penitentiary service since July 2022 and supervises the Main Operational Directorate and the Main Directorate of Support for the Activities of Operational Units, according to the newspaper 'The Moscow Times'.

However, voices critical of the Kremlin accuse Boyarinev of "complying with Putin's desire to physically eliminate his main opponent." They also claim that under his leadership hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners have been tortured and forced to confess to serious crimes.