Putin at a meeting on the same day

The team of the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny previously claimed that an exchange agreement between Russia and the West was on the table before his death.

Specifically, it should have been Vadim Krasikov, a Russian intelligence source imprisoned in Germany after the 2019 killing of a Chechen military commander in Berlin.

Maria Pevchikh, one of the leaders of Navalny's movement, stated in late February that the oligarch and former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich acted as a mediator during the alleged meetings, in which Russia, Germany and the United States were said to have participated.

New details

Now journalists dig into the Russian news site Agents New details about the meeting were published.

Agents I have interviewed four sources who should have known about the planned exchange agreement, and the meetings that should have taken place on the occasion of this issue.

According to two of these sources, Putin and Abramovich held a meeting on February 16 at the latest, the day Navalny died. Putin reportedly agreed to the exchange agreement during this meeting, which, according to Agentsvo, took place hours before the death occurred.

Cold blood

one of News website sources Putin is believed to have killed Navalny.

– As soon as he understood that the West was willing to exchange Krasikov for Russia, he ordered Navalny to be killed in cold blood.

Prominent Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev, who runs the Bellingcat mining network, has previously claimed the same thing. Grozev believes that Putin has calculated that the West, in Navalny's absence, might be willing to swap Krasikov for someone else.

Not only Navalny

According to Agentsvo's sources, two other names were also on the table at these meetings: arrested Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovitch, and former US soldier Paul Whelan.

Both are accused of espionage.

American basketball star Britney Griner was released from a Russian prison in December 2022 after a similar exchange.

Greiner was arrested at customs at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and sentenced to nine years in prison for drug smuggling. It was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was imprisoned in the United States.

exciting stories

Stories about why and how Navalny died are widespread. Russian opposition media such as Voorstka and Novaya Gazeta conducted interviews with sources in the administration of the IK-3 concentration camp in Kharp, where Navalny was imprisoned.

These sources claim that the order issued by Moscow, on the contrary, was that Navalny would not die until the end of the Russian presidential elections on March 17.

When Navalny's mother and his lawyer traveled together to the town of Salekhard, near the concentration camp where he died, authorities initially tried to refuse to hand over his body.

Eventually they agreed and, despite persistent attempts to the contrary, allowed the burial in a place known to the public. The funeral attracted tens of thousands, in what was described as the largest anti-war demonstration in Russia since Putin launched his massive invasion of Ukraine.