A Russian court on Tuesday convicted four journalists of extremism for working for an anti-corruption group founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and sentenced them to 5 1/2 years in prison each.

Antonina Favorskaya, Kostantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger were found guilty of involvement with a group that had been labeled as extremist. All four had maintained their innocence, arguing they were being prosecuted for doing their jobs as journalists.

Russia has dismissed a report claiming Vladimir Putin did not order the killing of famed dissident Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison in February.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told Russia’s state-run media on Saturday that he had seen the Wall Street Journal report, which cited an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies, and that there was little reason to believe it. He derided its logic and said it wasn’t worth looking into.

U.S. intelligence agencies signal that Russian President Vladimir Putin may not have planned for Alexei Navalny to have died when he did, a new report said.

The Wall Street Journal report said U.S. agencies have determined that Putin likely didn’t order Navalny to be killed in February, but it doesn’t entirely excuse him from responsibility.

The determination has been shared and agreed upon by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department’s intelligence unit.

US intelligence officials do not think Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for the death Alexei Navalny, according to a report slammed by one critic as “absurd.”

Alexei Navalny was found dead in a notorious Arctic penal colony in February, sparking worldwide outrage over the loss of the opposition leader who was widely seen as Putin’s strongest critic.

Alexei Navalny’s February death in an Arctic penal colony prompted a new wave of sanctions targeting Russia’s economy, upended delicate negotiations to exchange prisoners between Russia and the West, and left Russia’s limited opposition in disarray.

Russian President Vladimir Putin might not have planned for it to happen when it did.

Critics of Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin regime have called for massive protests at Russian polling stations on Sunday, the final day of a presidential election that is guaranteed to cement his hardline rule.

The beginning of Russia's three-day election weekend was marred by protests, military conflict and reported cyber attacks as President Vladimir Putin is all but certain to be elected to serve another six-year term.

Furious Russian officials have threatened “scumbag” presidential election saboteurs with eight years in prison for pouring green ink into ballot boxes.

The crackdown comes ahead of an expected “flash mob” protest at noon on Sunday – the final day of voting – at the urging of exiled opposition leaders.

The peaceful strategy was endorsed by Alexei Navalny, shortly before his death at the hands of Russian authorities in a gulag in Siberia.

Angry Russians with no political choices beyond incumbent President Vladimir Putin acted out in frustration Friday, causing disruptions at polling stations as voting got under way across the nation.

Several incidents were reported Friday and a number of individuals were arrested.

Ballot boxes, for instance, were attacked by voters who dumped dye into them, a reference to deceased former opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was attacked with such dye by Putin supporters in 2017.

The body of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was buried in Moscow on Friday to the defiant refrain of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” — as thousands challenged President Vladimir Putin by paying final respects to his fiercest critic, many chanting “Putin is a murderer.”

Video from the Barisovskoye cemetery showed the 47-year-old dissident’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, clad in a black scarf, making the sign of the cross over her dead son’s body and his father, Anatoly, kissing him on the brow.

Navalny was then draped in a white shroud before the coffin lid was shut.