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Maria Pevchikh says Alexei Navalny was to be launched in alternate for a Russian FSB killer imprisoned in Germany.
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was near being freed in a prisoner swap earlier than his sudden demise, in keeping with his colleague Maria Pevchikh.
In a video posted on YouTube on Monday, Pevchikh claimed that the deliberate swap concerned exchanging Navalny and two unidentified US residents for Russian Federal Safety Service (FSB) murderer Vadim Krasikov in Germany.
Navalny, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died on the age of 47 within the Arctic penal colony, the place he was serving a 19-year sentence on extremism costs, when he reportedly collapsed after a stroll on the jail grounds. .
“Alexey Navalny may very well be sitting on this seat proper now, in the present day. This isn’t a speech, this might and may have occurred,'' Pevchikh stated.
“Navalny ought to have been out within the subsequent few days as a result of we obtained the choice about his alternate. In early February, Putin was supplied at hand over the assassin, FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who’s serving a sentence for a homicide in Berlin, in alternate for 2 Americans and Alexei Navalny.
A German spokesman instructed a information convention on Monday that the federal government was conscious of reviews of the alleged swap, however couldn’t touch upon them.
Russian hitman Krasikov, who was a part of the alleged deal, was sentenced to life in jail in Germany after being convicted of the homicide of an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in Berlin's Tiergarten park in 2019 – a homicide that German authorities are investigating. Says the order was given by Russian intelligence providers.
In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson in early February, Putin indicated that he needed to deliver Krasnikov again.
Whereas Pevchikh didn’t specify who the US residents had been, Washington had beforehand stated he was attempting to deliver Wall Avenue Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whalen again to the USA.
Pevchikh claimed that the potential deal was in its remaining levels on the night of 15 February. He stated Navalny was murdered a day later as a result of Putin couldn’t stand the concept of him being impartial.
World leaders, together with the US, have blamed Putin for Navalny's demise and issued sanctions in response.
Nonetheless, the Kremlin has denied allegations that Moscow had something to do together with his sudden demise and criticized those that made the allegations with out offering proof.