Just over ten years ago, in December 2013, ex-oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, then a symbol of the opposition against Russian President Vladimir Putin, received a presidential pardon and gained freedom after a decade in prison A similar scenario could have been experienced with today's main Russian opposition leader, Aleksei Navalny, who died suddenly in an Arctic prison on February 16. His team announced yesterday that the burial will be public and will be held this week in Moscow, although they are searching for the site.
At the time of his death, Navalni was about to be released thanks to a prisoner exchange deal with the United States and Germany, one of his associates, who was his right-hand man, said. Maria Pévtxikh, in a video on YouTube. Aleksei Navalni, 47, was to be part of a swap in which Russia would receive a hitman who was used by the Russian security services (FSB) to kill a Chechen dissident in Berlin in 2019 and is now serving a life sentence in Germany
"Navalni should have been released in the next few days because we had already obtained a decision on his exchange. At the beginning of February, Putin was offered to exchange a shooter, FSB officer Vadim Krassikov, in prison in Berlin for murder, in exchange for two citizens of the United States and Aleksei Navalny," explained the opposition from exile.
He did not specify which American citizens he was referring to. But it could be ex-marine Paul Whelan, who is serving 16 years in prison in Russia after being convicted of espionage; the correspondent of The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March 2023 and accused of espionage; or the fellow journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Liberty correspondent with dual Russian-American nationality and in prison since October under the “foreign agents” law.
Pevtxikh assures in the recording that on February 15, a day before Navalny's death, they were informed that the negotiations were in the final stage.
Vladimir Putin indicated a few weeks ago in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson that he wanted Krassikov to return to Russia. And he referred to the hitman as "a man who, for patriotic reasons, liquidated a bandit in one of the European capitals".
Maria Pevtxikh asserts in the video that in the end this solution could not be reached because Putin himself decided to sabotage the operation and ordered the opposition to be killed, an accusation that the Kremlin has repeatedly denied this week. The Russian president could not tolerate the idea of Navalny being free, said the opposition. "He was told that the only way to get Krassikov back was to exchange him for Navalny." But he decided to "get rid of this currency" and "offer another one when the time comes".
His words reveal a veiled criticism of Western countries. “Officials, the United States and Germany, nodded in understanding. They said it was important to help Navalny and the political prisoners, they shook our hands, made promises but did nothing," Pevtsikh concluded.
Russian authorities handed over Navalny's body to his mother, Ludmila, on Saturday after they had been claiming him for a week. Earlier, she accused the investigators of pressuring her to have the opponent buried in secret. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the allegations yesterday. "The Kremlin has nothing to do with this, so it cannot exert pressure," he said.
The funerals of the Russian opposition leader will be public, his team announced yesterday, and will be held this week in Moscow. But it is not yet known where the burning chapel will be installed. "We are looking for a space for Aleksei's public farewell at the end of this working week. If you have a convenient place, please contact us", Navalni's spokeswoman, Kira Iármix, asked X to her followers.
