The deceased Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and his wife knew about the preparation of his exchange and agreed to it. Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was involved in the process.
Reuters writes about this with reference to sources related to the process.
The exchange was supposed to take place in mid-February. Initially, the plan was to exchange the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal Evan Hershkovich, who is in prison in the Russian Federation on charges of espionage, for the Russian FSB officer Vadim Krasikov. He killed Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Germany, for which he is serving a life sentence. Abramovich personally discussed this with Putin.
Then Navalny was added to the plan. Sources say the US, Germany and Russia had agreed to hold the exchange and were working on the details, but Navalnyʼs death put a damper on the deal.
Russian sources suggested that Hershkovychʼs chances for an exchange are now very small, and the Financial Times writes that Germany has lost interest in exchanging Krasikov.
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, 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 (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 Vadym Sokolov, his real name is Vadim Nykolaevich 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 concluded that Vympel FSB special forces officer Vadim Krasikov shot Khangoshvili on the instructions of an unspecified Russian state body. The order came from the Russian authorities.
Who is Evan Hershkovych?
The American Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Hershkovich was detained in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on March 30, 2023. He is charged with espionage and collecting information about a secret enterprise, for which he faces from 10 to 20 years in prison. The FSB says that he filmed one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex, which is a state secret. He is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center.