Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was on the verge of being freed in a prisoner swap when he died, Navalny ally Maria Pevchikh said on Monday, repeating her claim that President Vladimir Putin had killed him.
Speaking on YouTube, Pevchikh said negotiations to exchange Navalny and two unidentified US citizens for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian security assassin detained in Germany, were in the final stage at the time of the deaths.
Navalny, 47, died in an Arctic penal colony on February 16. The Kremlin has denied that Russia was involved in his death. Navalny’s death certificate states that he died of natural causes, according to his supporters.
Pevchikh did not name the two US citizens who were about to be exchanged for Navalny. But the United States has said it is seeking the return of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal journalist, and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine.
“Alexei Navalny could be sitting in this chair right now, today. This is not a figure of speech, it could have and should have happened,” Pevchikh said.
“Navalny was supposed to leave in the next few days, because we had already decided on his exchange. In early February, Putin received a proposal to exchange the assassin, FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a sentence for murder in Berlin, for two American citizens and Alexei Navalny.”
Pevchikh said he received confirmation that negotiations for the exchange were in the final stage on the evening of February 15.
Navalny, he said, was killed the next day because Putin could not tolerate the idea that he was free.
Pevchikh said Navalny’s allies had been working since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on a plan to get him out of Russia as part of a prisoner swap involving “Russian spies in exchange for political prisoners.”
He said they made desperate efforts and tried to find intermediaries, including approaching the late Henry Kissinger, but said Western governments had failed to demonstrate the necessary political will.
“The authorities, both American and German, nodded in understanding. They reported how important it was to help Navalny and the political prisoners, shook hands, made promises and did nothing.”
Source: Terra
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