Deal to Swap Navalny Was in Works When He Died, Official Says
- Deal involved Russian assassin jailed in Germany, aide claims
- Two Americans in Russia also were part of swap, Pevchikh says
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Talks were underway that could have seen Russian dissident Alexey Navalny freed in a prisoner exchange with the US and Germany before his death in an Arctic prison Feb. 16, a western official said.
Under the proposed agreement, Russia would have released Navalny, as well as two jailed Americans - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and businessman Paul Whelan - the official said, asking for anonymity to discuss matters that aren’t public. In return, Germany would have released Vadim Krasikov, a Russian with links to the Kremlin’s Federal Security Service who’s serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park.