- There was an opportunity to save Navalny that the US did not take
- Negotiations on Navalny also took place at a personal level
- The release was cut short by the death of Navalny
There was an opportunity to save Navalny that the US did not take
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was involved in negotiations with Russia on the possibility of exchanging Russian dissident Alexei Navalny for Americans in Russian custody, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing sources.
According to the newspaper, Clinton suggested to the White House that Navalny be included in the discussion. According to the WSJ, the former Secretary of State became involved in the talks after being approached by Navalny's Bulgarian associate, Christo Grozev. He suggested that Clinton present the idea of including an opposition figure to the White House[1].
The newspaper found out that the Americans hoped to exchange Navalny for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian imprisoned for life in Germany. He was sentenced for the murder of the Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
The opposition leader's widow, Yulia, has also informally appealed to the German authorities for help in the exchange process, but Germany has not been unanimous on the issue. The head of the country's Foreign Ministry, Annalena Baerbock, has spoken out against such a deal, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz has welcomed the possibility of releasing a Russian politician from prison in exchange[2].
Negotiations on Navalny also took place at a personal level
9 February 2024 The WSJ reports that one of the most complex exchanges since the Cold War was discussed behind closed doors. After the meeting, it was agreed to offer Russia an unofficial, brokered exchange of Navalny for Krasikov.
The opposition leader's associates and his wife hoped to make the details of the possible swap public during the Munich Security Conference, which started on 16 February. However, on that day, a report about the unexpected disappearance of A. Navalny's death was announced.
The WSJ recalls that a number of US citizens accused of espionage are in Russian prisons. This opens up a wide range of possibilities for Moscow to offer to swap them for Russians imprisoned in the West[3].
When Biden and Scholz were discussing a possible exchange between Navalny and Krasikov, Russian President Vladimir Putin openly hinted that he was ready to swap journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been accused of espionage.
Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, who visited Moscow at the beginning of February, also tried to trade for the jailed journalist. According to the publication, during an interview with Putin, Carlson hoped to press Putin to release Gershkovich here and now.
According to the WSJ, when it came to the exchange, the Russians followed the "spy for spy" principle. Putin was only interested in one candidate, Krasikov, who was imprisoned for a crime that the West believes was ordered by the Russian authorities. According to the newspaper, Putin and Krasikov were friends.
The release was cut short by the death of Navalny
At the end of February, after the opposition leader's death, his associate Maria Pevchikh told of plans to swap him for Krasikov. According to her, Putin was told of the idea by an unofficial negotiator, Roman Abramovich.
This led to the soon disposal of Navalny, as he was the only one for whom the West agreed to exchange Krasikov.
The prisoner swap talks were later reported in other Western media, including The New York Times and the Financial Times.
18 March. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian President, stated that Putin did not accept the fact of the negotiations for Navalny. According to him, on the night before the final counting of the presidential election results, Putin had only hinted that one of the people had suggested a swap for Navalny. The President reportedly accepted this idea[4].
Navalny died in prison on 16 February 2024.
V. Sokolov (Krasikov) was imprisoned for life by the Supreme Court in Berlin for the 2019 murder of Z. Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen who fought on the side of Chechen separatists in 2000.
Paul Whelan was detained in Moscow in 2018. According to prosecutors, he was spying for American special services. In 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in a colony for espionage.
Gershkovich, a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, was detained in Yekaterinburg in March 2023. He faces up to 20 years in prison for espionage.
