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US and Germany were discussing Navalny prison swap, Western official says

The US and Germany were having early discussions about a potential prisoner swap with Russia that would involve Alexei Navalny when he died, a Western official familiar with the discussions has said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said discussions had been in the early phases when the Putin critic died in prison on 16 February.

Earlier, Maria Pevchikh, an ally of Mr Navalny, said he was killed because he was about to be exchanged in a prisoner swap.

He was set to be swapped with a high-profile Russian hitman, she said – referring to Vadim Krasikov. 

Krasikov is in a German prison, serving a life sentence for killing the Georgia-born Chechen dissident Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in a Berlin Park in 2019.

Analysis: Intriguing twist in dark tale of Navalny’s death

Reports that Alexei Navalny was about to be freed in a prisoner swap is “an intriguing twist in the very dark tale” of the Putin critic’s death, says an international analyst.

Mr Navalny’s close associate Maria Pevchikh “says she has it on good authority that there were plans” to swap him for a Russian hitman jailed in Germany, Vadim Krasikov, and two unnamed Americans.

Waghorn Dominic says: “She says it was fairly well down the line and it’s her hypothesis that Vladimir Putin did not want to see Mr Navalny released.

“She hasn’t presented any evidence but it’s an intriguing twist in the very dark tale of Navalny’s death.”