Alexeï Navalny’s team said Monday that an agreement to exchange the opponent was “in progress and in its final phase” with the Russian authorities before his death in prison a little over a week ago.
According to Maria Pevtchikh, a collaborator of the opponent, Mr. Navalny should have been exchanged in the company of “two American citizens” detained by Moscow for a Russian imprisoned in Germany.
“I received confirmation that the negotiations were underway and in their final phase,” she added, assuring that the opponent “should have been released in the days to come.”
According to Ms. Pevtchikh, her team had been “working” for two years to “get” Alexeï Navalny out of prison “at all costs”, on the basis of an exchange of “Russian spies for political prisoners” held in Russia.
Washington and Berlin were aware, she assured, without specifying exactly the role of the two chancelleries in the discussions.
After several months without progress, the agreement “was put back on the table in December” 2023, said Maria Pevtchikh in a video.
According to her, Vadim Krassikov, sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination in 2019 in a Berlin park of a former Chechen separatist, should be included in this exchange of prisoners.
According to German justice, this murder was directly ordered by the Russian authorities, who have always denied any involvement.
When questioned by journalists, the German government spokesperson refused to comment on the statements by Navalny’s team.
Russia notably detains several Americans including Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich imprisoned since March 2023 for “espionage” – an accusation that the person concerned, his employer and his family reject –, as well as a former marine, Paul Whelan.
The circumstances of the death of Alexeï Navalny, which moved people around the world, remain unclear. According to the Russian Prison Service, he died following a sudden malaise “after a walk”.
Several Western countries, including the United States, have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being responsible.