‘It was a sad event’: Putin breaks silence on Alexei Navalny’s death

Russian president claims he had been prepared to trade the opposition leader in a prisoner exchange with Western countries

Vladimir Putin has broken his silence on the death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison last month.
Speaking at his campaign headquarters after claiming a landslide victory in Russia’s sham elections, the Russian president claimed he had been prepared to exchange Mr Navalny, describing the opposition leader’s death as a “sad event”.
“Concerning Mr Navalny. Yes, he passed away, it’s always a sad event,” said Putin. He added that “a few days” before he died, “there was an idea to exchange Mr Navalny for some people held in correctional facilities in Western countries”.
“I said, ‘I agree. Only on one condition: we’ll exchange him so that he does not return’,” he said. “But this happens. That’s life.”
The comments were Putin’s first about Mr Navalny’s death and one of very few times the Russian president has uttered his name in public.
The Russian opposition leader was reported dead on February 16 by prison authorities at the Siberian penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence for a string of convictions that his allies viewed as politically motivated.
Mr Navalny “felt ill” after a walk, “almost immediately lost consciousness” and died soon after, prison authorities said at the time amid widespread suspicion that the Kremlin was responsible.
Seen as Putin’s most vociferous critic, he had been poisoned and harried through the courts but had refused to flee Russia.
Maria Pevchikh, head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation formerly headed by Mr Navalny, said in the week afterwards that an agreement had been reached to swap the opposition politician in a prisoner exchange, but he died while the negotiations were in the final stages.
One Russian source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters that both Mr Navalny and his wife had agreed to the plan, with Vadim Krasikov, an FSB officer serving a murder sentence in Berlin, the likely candidate for an exchange.
Members of Mr Navalny’s team reacted with fury to Putin’s comments, with Maria Pevchikh, chairwoman of Mr Navalny’s foundation, calling the Russian president a “lying piece of scum”.
Kira Yarmysh, Mr Navalny’s former press secretary, wrote on Twitter: “Putin killed Alexey Navalny.”
Putin’s comments come as the president secured a fifth term in Sunday’s elections despite thousands of voters across Russia and in major European countries spoiling their ballots as part of the “Noon against Putin” protests.
The movement, supported by Mr Navalny, encouraged voters to arrive at polling stations en masse at midday on Sunday, the final day of the elections, and destroy their ballots.
Yulia Navalnaya, Mr Navalny’s widow, joined thousands of protesters in Berlin, and was greeted with rapturous applause and chants of “Yulia, Yulia”.
Ms Navalanaya later posted on Twitter that the protests “give me hope that everything is not in vain, that we will still fight”.