The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
February 27, 2024

Navalny Aide Says Putin Foe Was on Verge of Being Released Before His Death
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

A close associate of Alexei Navalny says the late Russian opposition
leader was days away from being released in a prisoner exchange. Maria
Pevchikh, chair of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, spoke on Alexei
Navalny's You Tube channel.

Maria Pevchikh: "Navalny was everything Putin could never be. And Putin
hated him for it. But why did he kill him now? Why February 16th? …
Alexei Navalny could have been sitting in my place right now, today.
This is not a figure of speech. This could have and should have
happened. Navalny was supposed to be free in the coming days, because we
had achieved a decision on his exchange."

Maria Pevchikh accused Putin of killing Navalny to prevent the swap from
happening. Navalny was allegedly to be exchanged along with unnamed U.S.
nationals for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian secret service member who is
serving a life sentence in Germany for a 2019 murder of a Kremlin
dissident. Media outlets speculate the two American citizens could be
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former marine Paul
Whelan.


.