Navalny allies say he was about to be released in a prisoner swap

Associates of Aleksei A. Navalny claimed on Monday that the Russian opposition leader was about to be released in a prisoner swap with the West before he died earlier this month.

Western officials were in advanced talks with the Kremlin over a deal that would have freed Mr. Navalny along with two Americans in Russian prison, a top aide to the late opposition leader Maria Pevchikh said in a statement. video released on the Navalny team’s YouTube channel.

As part of that deal, Ms. Pevchikh said, Germany would have released Vadim Krasikov, the man convicted of killing a former Chechen separatist fighter in a Berlin park in 2019. Mr. Putin praised Mr. Krasikov in his interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson this month, describing the convicted killer as motivated by “patriotic feelings.”

Ms Pevchikh’s claims about a pending deal could not be independently confirmed. There was no immediate comment from any of the parties allegedly involved in the trade described by Ms Pevchikh. A Kremlin spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

“Navalny would be free in the coming days,” Ms. Pevchikh, the chairman of Mr. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said in the video. “On the evening of February 15, I received confirmation that the negotiations were in the final phase.”

U.S. officials had acknowledged that German officials were asking for Mr. Navalny’s release under a deal that would have freed Mr. Krasikov, though they did not indicate a deal was close.

Mr Navalny himself was not aware of the details of the talks but knew that his possible release through a prisoner exchange was being discussed, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said.

“He understood that discussions were taking place, but he did not know any details,” Ms Yarmysh said in a text message.

According to Russian authorities, Mr Navalny died on February 16 in a penal colony in the Arctic. According to the medical report on his death, Navalny’s associates said he died of natural causes.

But Ms. Pevchikh claimed in her video that President Vladimir V. Putin ordered Mr. Navalny’s killing. The reason, she claimed, was that the West was pushing for Mr. Navalny’s release as part of a deal to free Mr. Krasikov, whom Western officials describe as a Russian intelligence agent. By killing Mr. Navalny, she said, Mr. Putin took the possibility of his release off the table and planned to “offer someone else when the time came” to bring Mr. Krasikov home.

Ms Pevchikh said Russian business magnate Roman Abramovich had acted as a mediator in the West’s talks with Mr Putin over a possible prisoner exchange to secure Mr Navalny’s freedom. A spokeswoman for Mr. Abramovich did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ms. Pevchikh did not identify the two Americans she said were allegedly exchanged with Mr. Navalny. At least two Americans behind bars in Russia have been classified as “wrongfully detained” by the State Department: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a corporate security official and former Marine.

The Navalny team’s new claims came as plans for Mr Navalny’s funeral remained unclear. Ms Yarmysh, his spokeswoman, posted on social media on Monday asking for help in preparing a funeral home for a service later this week.

“We are looking for a venue for a public farewell to Aleksei,” says Ms. Yarmysh wrote. “Time: end of this working week. If you have a suitable location, please contact us.”

Ms. Yarmysh said on Saturday that Mr. Navalny’s body had been released to his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, after a days-long dispute with authorities over custody of his remains.

Mr Navalny’s aides say the Kremlin has tried to prevent his funeral from becoming a public event that could attract thousands of mourners. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, denied that the Kremlin was involved.

“This is absolutely not our issue and not our prerogative,” Mr. Peskov told reporters on Monday. “The head of state does not regulate these issues in any way.”

Julian E Barnes contributed reporting from Washington.