Navalny dies, nearly released due to deal with President Putin = Staff

• President Putin’s political rival Alexei Navalny died on February 16th in an Arctic penal colony.
• Navalny was on the verge of being released in a prisoner exchange when he died.
• Navalny’s ally Maria Pevchiv said Putin had the opposition killed to prevent the exchange.

President Vladimir Putin’s political nemesis Alexei Navalny was on the verge of being released as part of a high-stakes prisoner swap before his sudden death, staffers said.

Anti-corruption activist Maria Pevchiv claimed in a video posted on YouTube that the Russian president had Navalny killed because he did not want the exchange to take place.

“We have received the decision on Navalny’s exchange and he should have been released in the next few days,” said Pevchikh, head of the anti-corruption foundation founded by Navalny.

“In early February, President Putin was offered to exchange two Americans and Alexei Navalny for FSB murderer Vladim Krasikov, who is serving a sentence for murder in Berlin,” it added.

Pevchiv did not reveal the names of the two Americans who were being considered for the prisoner exchange. But Reuters noted that the United States was trying to secure the return of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

Prisoner exchange negotiations have been going on for two years. in his final moments on the eve of his death, she said.

President Putin expressed interest in a prisoner exchange in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in early February.

The Russian president said he would be open to exchanging Mr. Gershkovych, who is being held in a Moscow prison, for someone who “out of patriotic sentiments eliminated bandits in one of the capitals of Europe” during “events in the Caucasus.” Stated.

His comments were widely interpreted as a reference to Krasikov, who was convicted in 2019 of the murder of Chechen-Georgian military officer Zelimkhan Khangoshvir.

Navalny died suddenly on February 16 in an Arctic penal colony where he was being held on charges widely seen as politically motivated. The Kremlin denied Russia was involved in his death.

But world leaders, commentators and Navalny’s family are adamant that Putin is responsible.

Maxim Alyukov, a political sociologist at King’s College London who specializes in Russia, previously told BI that Navalny’s death was consistent with a “political killing” and that President Vladimir Putin’s He said it serves as a warning to others who may try to rebel.

Callum Fraser, a researcher at RUSI’s International Security Studies Department who specializes in Russian foreign policy, agreed. “This is a period in which it is entirely possible that President Putin wanted to remove Mr. Navalny, who is an emblematic figure of the Russian opposition, to reduce the possibility of dissent within the election,” Fraser told BI. Ta.

Mr Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, said in a statement on Friday that Russian authorities had threatened to “do something” to her son’s body unless she agreed to a secret funeral.

Mr Navalny’s press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed on Saturday that Mr Navalny’s body had been returned to his mother. It is still unclear whether the family will be allowed to pay their respects in public.

“The funeral is still pending. We do not know whether the authorities will intervene to give Alexei a befitting funeral in accordance with his family’s wishes. We will update you as soon as we have news,” she said. I wrote to X.

Representatives from the Kremlin and the U.S. State Department did not respond to requests for comment.