Donald Trump, one of the leading candidates for the position of US president, has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin might have played a role in the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

As reported by Politico, in an interview with Fox News, when asked if Putin was responsible for Navalny's death, he said, "I don’t know, but perhaps, I mean possibly, I could say probably, I don’t know."

"He’s a young man, so statistically he’d be alive for a long time … so something happened that was unusual," Trump added.

In the same interview, the former president of the United States and likely Republican presidential candidate evasively responded to the question of whether he would continue to provide weapons to Ukraine or allow Putin to occupy part or all of Ukraine if elected president again.

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Trump said, reiterating that the war "never would have happened" under his presidency.

Earlier, foreign ministers of the European Union agreed on sanctions against Russia in connection with the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

In February, eight European Union countries made a call for sanctions against Russian prosecutors, judges and prison officials due to Navalny’s death.

On 23 February, the US Department of State announced sanctions against three Russians who were involved in Navalny’s torture.