An employee of the Anti-Corruption Foundation(ACF) Maria Pevchikh informed that the Russian politician Aleksei Navalny was killed on February 16, because his associates were able to agree on his exchange for Russian FSB officer Vadim "Sokolov" Krasikov — he is serving a life sentence in Berlin.
Pevchikh claims that at the beginning of February, Russian President Vladimir Putin was offered to exchange FSB officer Vadim Krasikov for two American citizens and Aleksei Navalny. Pevchikh received confirmation that negotiations on the exchange are indeed underway and are now at the final stage in the evening of February 15. Already on February 16, Aleksei Navalny died.
According to Pevchikh, ACF team came up with a way to "liberate" Navalny from prison two years ago. This is a humanitarian exchange. Investigative journalist Christo Grozev allegedly helped implement this plan. The plan dragged on for several years due to constant obstruction from Russian and Western officials.
Even before the death of Aleksei Navalny, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, in an interview with the former host of the American TV channel Fox News Tucker Carlson, commented on the negotiations between the United States and Russia on the exchange of prisoners. The media then wrote that Moscow was insisting on the release of Vadim Krasikov. Putin, without naming names, confirmed the exchange negotiations to Carlson.
"It was made clear to Putin that the only way to get Krasikov is to trade him for Navalny. Putin thought: ʼI will not tolerate Navalny on the loose. Since in principle they are ready to change Krasikov, then it is necessary to simply get rid of the ʼsubject of the exchangeʼ [Navalny], and to replace him with someone else,ʼ" Pevchikh noted.
ACF believes that the possible exchange of Navalny was the reason for his murder.
Navalnyʼs death
On February 16, 2024, the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District reported that Aleksei Navalny died in correctional colony No. 3. The service writes that allegedly during the walk, Navalny felt sick, and he fainted. Medics arrived at the scene, but it was not possible to save him. 47-year-old Navalny died. The leaders of Western countries unanimously put the responsibility for Navalnyʼs death on Putinʼs regime.
On February 24, 2024, Navalnyʼs body was given to his mother Lyudmila.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence (also known as GUR) Kyrylo Budanov said that Navalny died due to a ruptured blood clot, as Russian propaganda and Kremlin representatives said.
Who is Vadim Krasikov?
On August 23, 2019, former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot dead in Berlin. A Russian with a passport named Vadim "Sokolov" (his real name is Vadim Nikolaevich Krasikov) was accused of his murder. He may be involved in a contract killing in Moscow in 2013 and is also connected to the FSB. Germanyʼs federal prosecutorʼs office charged the Russian government with the contract killing of Khangoshvili, but Russia (as usual) denied involvement.
In December 2021, Vadim Krasikov was sentenced to life imprisonment. The court came to the conclusion that "Vympel" FSB special forces officer Vadim Krasikov shot Khangoshvili at the behest of an unidentified Russian state body. The order came from the Russian authorities.