A contentious accusation has emerged from the team of Alexei Navalny, suggesting that the Russian opposition leader’s death was a deliberate act ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
According to a recent video published by ally Maria Pevchikh, Mr. Navalny’s demise occurred just as an agreement for his release through a prisoner exchange seemed imminent, Politico reports.
In the video, titled “Why did Putin kill Navalny now?” Ms. Pevchikh discusses months of efforts toward an exchange that would free Mr. Navalny for a Federal Security Service (FSB) agent imprisoned in Germany.
Commissioned last spring, the proposed swap aimed to secure Mr. Navalny’s liberty in the following days.
“We had achieved a decision on his exchange,” Ms. Pevchikh says.
Ms. Pevchikh says in the video that influential Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich facilitated communications between Western officials and Mr. Putin. However, the veracity of these claims remains otherwise uncorroborated.
Further details from Ms. Pevchikh indicate the exchange was poised to include Vadim Krasikov — an FSB agent serving a sentence in Germany for the 2019 assassination of a former Chechen commander — and two unnamed U.S. citizens.
Late on Feb. 15, per Ms. Pevchikh’s account, confirmation regarding the swap was reportedly secured, only for the decision to be abruptly reversed by Mr. Putin.
Ms. Pevchikh hypothesized that Mr. Putin decided to execute Mr, Navalny to eliminate the need for an exchange, planning to propose an alternative trade later. Describing the decision as the actions of “a mad mafioso,” she expressed her belief that Mr. Putin is consumed by personal animosity for Mr. Navalny.
Mr. Navalny reportedly collapsed and died within a penal colony situated north of the Arctic Circle. This incident happened one day after Ms. Pevchikh was purportedly informed of the nearing completion of the prisoner exchange deal.
Although Ms. Pevchikh does not identify the two American citizens involved, U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whelan have both been detained in Russia on disputed espionage accusations and have been the subject of numerous U.S. diplomatic efforts.
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