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The US wanted to include Navalny in the prisoner exchange

2024-08-02 10:15:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday that the United States had been working to include Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prisoner swap before he died in prison.

Shortly after Navanly died, his allies said Moscow was involved in talks with the West about a prisoner swap that would include the politician. A few weeks later, Russian President Vladimir Putin also said he was willing to release Navalny in a prisoner swap, provided he never returned to Russia.

Sullivan, speaking to reporters at the White House after announcing the release of 16 prisoners from prisons in Russia and Belarus in exchange for the release of eight Russians, said that at the time of Navalny's death, officials were discussing an exchange of likely to include Vadim Krasikov.

Krasikov, one of eight Russians released in a prisoner swap on August 1, was convicted of killing a former Chechen militant in Berlin in 2019.

After Navalny died in an Arctic prison under suspicious circumstances on February 16, senior US officials made even greater efforts to urge Germany to release Krasikov.

Several of Navalny's associates were released, including Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeyeva, and Vadim Ostanin. In return, Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, a major critic of the Kremlin, was included.

Navalny's closest ally, Leonid Volkov, said the historic prisoner swap came too late for his friend.

"Today, we are celebrating the release of political prisoners, Putin's hostages who were suffering in Putin's gulag. But still it will be joy with tears in our eyes. The 'Navalny exchange' has happened... but without Navalny. It hurts a lot," he wrote in "X".

Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, also reacted to the prisoner swap, saying she was "happy" that nearly a dozen Russian opposition activists and politicians had been released.

"The release of every political prisoner is a great victory and a reason to celebrate," Navalnaya wrote in "X," adding that those released were "saved from Putin's regime."

Navalnaya spoke by phone with Vice President Kamal Harris, Navalnaya's spokeswoman said.

Harris called her "to express his support, highlighting Alexei and Yulia's contribution to the fight for a democratic Russia," Kira Yarmysh wrote in "X." /REL