Roman Abramovich last discussed the exchange of Alexei Navalny with Vladimir Putin on the morning of February 16, the Agency claims, citing a businessman acquaintance. On this day, it became known about the murder of a politician in the colony.
Alexei Navalny’s associates previously spoke about plans to conduct an exchange and Abramovich’s participation as a negotiator. “I received confirmation that negotiations are underway and are at the final stage on the evening of February 15,” said FBK head Maria Pevchikh.
“From what we knew in the last days before the murder, it was the impression that he (even to the surprise of the negotiators on the Russian side) agreed,” investigator Hristo Grozev now told reporters.
Negotiations have been ongoing “at least since the spring” of 2023, the Agency clarifies. According to Maria Pevchikh, they planned to exchange Navalny for FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a sentence for murder in Berlin.
The Agency’s interlocutors also said that the inclusion of Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and retired American Marine Paul Whelan on the exchange lists was discussed. The first is in a pre-trial detention center, and the second is in a colony in Russia on criminal charges of espionage.
“I think that this was either a cover-up for murder plans, or a strategic move to bring the negotiations almost to an end, thinking that just Germany agreed in principle to give up Vadim Krasikov, then in the absence of Navalny, they will agree to exchange him for another prisoner who is not so important for Putin,” Grozev suggested.
Ban on correspondence, arrest of lawyers, transfer to the Arctic. How Navalny was isolated before his death
The death of Alexei Navalny in IK-3 in Kharp became known on the afternoon of February 16. The Federal Penitentiary Service claimed that after a walk the 47-year-old politician became ill and died, despite the efforts of doctors.
At the same time, the politician’s body was given to his family only on the eighth day after death. Since the summer of 2022, he was regularly placed under strict conditions in a punishment cell, and for the last six months of his life he was consistently isolated. In December 2023, the politician was secretly transferred to a special regime colony in the village of Kharp in Yamal, beyond the Arctic Circle.
The politician’s funeral took place on March 1. The line of people wishing to say goodbye to Alexei stretched for several kilometers in Moscow. Navalny's supporters also organized memorials in dozens of cities in Russia and abroad.