Alexei Navalny was close to being freed in prisoner swap deal, team says

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 February 15, the day before Navalny was reported dead.

According to Pevchikh, Navalny and two US 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. German judges said Krasikov acted on the orders of Russian authorities, who gave him a false identity, passport and resources to carry out the killing.

She didn't identify the US 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 US government dispute the charges against them.

US-Russian national Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty based in Prague, has been detained since October after travelling to Russia for a family-related matter in May. Russia's FSB security services arrested another dual national last week, saying the Los Angeles-based 33-year-old was suspected of treason for “collecting funds” for the Ukrainian army.

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

US 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 “US-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 best-known opposition politician, died February 16 in an Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.

His family spent a week fighting with the authorities, who reportedly insisted on a secret funeral, before his body was returned to them. Prominent Russians released videos calling on authorities to release the body. Western nations have hit Russia with more sanctions in response to Navalny’s death as well as for the invasion of Ukraine, which marked its second anniversary on Saturday.

Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said Monday they were looking for a venue for a memorial service later this week.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)