Nacho Doce/Reuters
A prisoner swap deal to free Alexei Navalny and two U.S. nationals was close to being agreed just before the Russian opposition leader died in prison, a Navalny ally claimed Monday.
Maria Pevchikh, a director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said in a video message that the trio would be swapped for Vadim Krasikov, an FSB assassin currently jailed in Germany. “I received confirmation that negotiations were at the final stage on the evening of February 15th,” Pevchikh said. “On February 16th, Alexei was killed.”
She added that Navalny was “supposed to be free in the coming days because we have achieved a decision on his exchange” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been offered the deal in early February. Navalny died while imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony—his supporters say that his death certificate states that his demise was caused by natural causes.