Swap For Navalny Was In Final Stages Before His Death, Associate Says

This photo taken from video released by Russian Federal Penitentiary Service via SOTAVISION shows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears via a video link from the Arctic penal colony in Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, where he is serving a 19-year sentence, in Kovrov, Russia, on Feb. 15, 2024. Shortly after Navalny's death was reported on Friday Feb. 16, 2024, the Russian SOTA social media channel shared images of the opposition politician reportedly in court yesterday. In the footage, Navalny is seen standing up and is laughing and joking with the judge via video link. (Russian Federal Penitentiary Service via SOTAVISION via AP)

Associates of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that talks were underway shortly before his death to exchange him for a Russian imprisoned in Germany.

“Alexei Navalny could have been sitting here now, today. It’s not a figure of speech,” Maria Pevchikh, who lives outside Russia, said in a video statement. She said she received confirmation the talks were in the “final stages” on Feb. 15, the day before Navalny was reported dead.

According to Pevchikh, Navalny and two U.S. citizens held in Russia were supposed to be swapped for Vadim Krasikov. He was serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing in Berlin of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen descent.

She didn’t identify the U.S. citizens that were supposedly part of the deal. There are several in custody in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich arrested on espionage charges, and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, convicted of espionage and serving a long prison sentence. They and the U.S. government dispute the charges against them.

German officials have refused to comment when asked if there had been any effort by Russia to secure a swap of Krasikov.

U.S. commentator Tucker Carlson earlier this month asked President Vladimir Putin about the prospects of exchanging Gershkovich, and Putin said the Kremlin was open to negotiations. He pointed to a man imprisoned in a “U.S.-allied country” for “liquidating a bandit” who had allegedly killed Russian soldiers during separatist fighting in Chechnya. Putin didn’t mention names but appeared to refer to Krasikov.

Pevchikh alleged in her video that Putin “wouldn’t tolerate” setting Navalny free and decided to “get rid of the bargaining chip.” She offered no evidence to back that claim.

Asked at a regular news conference in Berlin about the claim by the Navalny team, German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said she couldn’t comment.

Navalny, 47, Russia’s most well-known opposition politician, died on Feb. 16 in an Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.

(AP)