Putin Says He Agreed to Navalny Prisoner Swap
The Russian leader said he gave his assent to an exchange with prisoners held in the West before Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison camp
March 17, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday he had agreed to exchange Alexei Navalny with prisoners in the West days before the Russian opposition politician dropped dead in an Arctic penal colony.
The comments confirm that talks on swapping Navalny had reached an advanced stage, but fail to explain the mystery of his death ahead of a potential exchange. Putin said he had agreed to the idea on one condition: that Navalny never return to Russia.
For months, members of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation had been advocating for a deal that would have seen Russia release Navalny, who was serving sentences amounting to 30 years on charges he said were politically motivated. After he died the foundation said those talks had reached their final stage to secure his exchange, along with two U.S. citizens held in Russia. In return, Berlin was meant to free Vadim Krasikov, a suspected member of Russia’s Federal Security Service, serving a life sentence for murder in Germany, for the killing of a Chechen fugitive.
The U.S. had discussed that idea with Germany, but hadn’t proposed it to the Kremlin, U.S. officials have said.
In a speech Putin delivered after polls closed in the country’s presidential election, the Russian leader said he had agreed to the swap. He said the offer was brought to him by people outside “the administration,” without specifying whether he meant his own office, or the Biden administration.
“A few days before Mr. Navalny passed away, some colleagues, not members of the administration, some people there told me that there was an idea to exchange Mr. Navalny for some people who are in prison in Western countries,” Putin said, uttering the dissident’s last name, which he had studiously avoided doing for years.
“The person who spoke to me had not yet finished the sentence, I said: ‘I agree!’” he added, expressing regret that “what happened happened.”
Among the U.S. citizens being held in Russia are Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, held on an allegation of espionage, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, currently serving a 16-year sentence for espionage. The Journal has vehemently denied the charge against its reporter, as has Gershkovich. The Biden administration has said that Gershkovich, 32, who was detained during a reporting trip and was accredited to work as a journalist by Russia’s foreign ministry, has been wrongfully detained.
Moscow has said it is acting in accordance with its laws.
The U.S. has also designated Whelan as wrongfully detained, and has described the espionage conviction against him as an act of hostage-taking. The White House has said it is working to negotiate their release.
Navalny’s team, which has said Putin had Navalny killed in prison as a way to reject the swap proposal, dismissed Putin’s comments. Ivan Zhdanov, director of the Anti-Corruption Fund, said Putin “confirmed the exchange and immediately ordered to kill” him. “We know this and we will prove it,” he wrote on X.
Navalny, who died on Feb. 16, was Putin’s most ardent critic and spent years investigating and exposing alleged corruption by the Kremlin elite. He had a large following across Russia—and was popular in Germany, where he sought medical treatment for a poisoning with Novichok, a chemical nerve agent.
President Biden has said Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death, but the Kremlin has denied state involvement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t respond to a request for comment about the Anti-Corruption Foundation statement.
Write to Thomas Grove at thomas.grove@wsj.com, Ann M. Simmons at ann.simmons@wsj.com and Drew Hinshaw at drew.hinshaw@wsj.com