Alexei Navalny was about to be freed in a prisoner swap when he died, according to his ally Maria Pevchikh.
She
said the Russian opposition leader was going to be exchanged for Vadim
Krasikov, a Russian hitman who is serving a life sentence for murder in
Germany.
Two US citizens currently held in Russia were also going to be part of the deal, Ms Pevchikh claimed.
She added that negotiations were at their final stage on 15 February.
The
next day, Mr Navalny died in his cell in the prison colony in Siberia
where he was being held on a 19-year sentence over charges that were
widely seen as politically motivated. Prison officials said the
47-year-old had fallen ill following a "walk".
In
a video posted on Mr Navalny's YouTube channel, Ms Pevchikh, who is the
chairwoman of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), said negotiations
for a prisoner swap had been under way for two years.
She
added that after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine
in February 2022 "it was clear that Putin would stop at nothing" and
that Mr Navalny "had to be freed from jail at any cost, and urgently".
According
to Ms Pevchik, Mr Navalny was going to be freed under a humanitarian
exchange and American and German officials were involved in the talks.
The process finally resulted in a concrete plan for a prisoner swap in December, she said.
Vadim
Krasikov - a Russian who was found guilty of shooting former Chechen
rebel commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in the head at close range in
Germany in 2019 - was going to be part of the deal.
Two US nationals currently held in Russia were also going to be exchanged, Ms Pevchikh said, although she did not name them.
According
to Ms Pevchikh, Russian President Vladimir Putin changed his mind at
the last minute. She said he "could not tolerate Navalny being free" -
and since there was an agreement "in principle" for Krasikov's freeing,
Mr Putin decided to "just get rid of the bargaining chip".
"Putin has gone mad with hatred for Navalny," Ms Pevchikh said. "He knows Navalny could've defeated him."
A
spokesperson for the German government said on Monday that the
government "cannot comment on the reports" of a planned prisoner swap at
this time.
Within an hour of publication, Ms Pevchikh's video had had hundreds of thousands of views.
The
Kremlin has not yet reacted to the claims put forward by Ms Pevchikh,
but President Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously said
allegations of government involvement into Navalny's death were
"absurd".
