Navalny almost released in prisoner swap: activist

A prisoner swap involving Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was in the final stages before his death earlier this month, according to his supporters.

Navalny (photo) died Feb. 16 at age 47 after spending years in a remote penal colony. But just one day earlier, Navalny’s organization was told a deal for his release was nearly complete, according to a video statement from anti-corruption activist Maria Pevchikh.

“It could and should have happened. Navalny in coming days was supposed to have been freed because we had achieved a decision on his release,” Pevchikh said in a video released Monday. “I received confirmation that the negotiations were at the final stage on the evening of Feb. 15. On Feb. 16, Alexei was killed.”

In the video, Pevchikh accused Russian leader Vladimir Putin of killing Navalny. Navalny’s organization has presented no evidence of Putin’s direct involvement, though the Kremlin is widely considered to blame for his death.

The deal for Navalny’s release centered on Vadim Krasikov, a Russian operative who killed a man in Berlin in 2019, according to Pevchikh. Krasikov would have been traded for Navalny and two U.S. citizens, she said.

Pevchikh did not name the two Americans discussed. Several U.S. citizens are imprisoned in Russia, but the two most well-known are Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan. The U.S. government has labeled both men wrongfully detained.

In a February interview with Putin, Tucker Carlson asked about an exchange for Gershkovich. Putin mentioned a trade for a man imprisoned in a “U.S.-allied country” for “liquidating a bandit.” That would match the description of Krasikov, who killed Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a former Chechen rebel.