Katie Couric Instagram – 🚨BREAKING NEWS: Alexei Navalny, the fiercest and most outspoken Russian critic of President Vladimir Putin has died in prison, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said on Friday. A spokesperson for Navalny said on X that they did not have any confirmation or information about his death. Today on Morning Joe, Former ambassador to Russia @ambmcfaul said: “Putin killed Navalny. Let’s be crystal clear about that…Putin killed Navalny because he was the one opposition leader in Russia that Putin feared the most.” According to prison officials, Navalny, 47, lost consciousness after taking a walk in the Arctic prison where he was moved late last year. “The facility’s medical staff immediately arrived and an ambulance brigade was called,” the penitentiary service’s statement said. “All necessary resuscitation measures were taken, which did not lead to positive results. The ambulance doctors confirmed the death of the convict.” Navalny rose to prominence more than a decade ago by speaking publicly and documenting what he said was the vast corruption among the “crooks and thieves” who ran Putin’s Russia. He survived a poisoning attempt with a banned chemical nerve agent in August 2020 that the State Dept said was carried out by agents of the Russian state. Navalny was serving a combined 30 1/2 year jail sentence when he died. He went missing in Russia’s penal system in December, eventually turning up at a high security penal colony in a remote town above the Arctic Circle. 📷: Getty Images