Media: Putin sent Navalny beyond the Arctic Circle immediately after the exchange proposal

Vladimir Putin knew about the preparations for the exchange of Alexei Navalny for Russian prisoners in European jails on the eve of the opposition politician's transfer to a remote Siberian penal colony. Businessman Roman Abramovich spoke with the Russian president about the exchange no later than early December 2023, sources close to the negotiations told The Wall Street Journal.

According to them, Abramovich discussed the transfer of Russian political prisoners with US Special Representative for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens in November 2023, American journalists from the WSJ and The New York Times claim. Since the beginning of the war, the businessman has acted as a mediator in negotiations between the Kremlin and its opponents, including the Ukrainian authorities. Shortly after meeting with the US Special Representative in Tel Aviv, Abramovich visited Russia - the publications' sources cannot name the exact date of the meeting with Putin.

At the same time, they claim that Navalny was transferred from a colony near Vladimir to a colony in the village of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug on December 11, shortly after Putin learned the details of the exchange from Abramovich.

On March 17, 2024, Vladimir Putin told journalists that he had discussed exchanging Navalny for “those who are in Western countries” a few days before the opposition politician’s death. “You can believe me, you can’t believe me, the person who spoke to me hadn’t even finished his sentence, I said: ‘I agree,’” the Russian president described the conversation with an unknown interlocutor. The Federal Penitentiary Service reported Navalny’s death in the Kharp colony on February 16.

In an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson on February 9, 2024, Vladimir Putin admitted that he would like to return to Russia a “patriot” who “liquidated a bandit” in one of the European capitals. He was probablytalking about FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who returned to Russia on August 1 as a result of an exchange. He was serving a life sentence in Germany, to which he was sentenced for the murder of Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.

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