Putin confirmed he had agreed to release Navalny, calling the death a “tragic event”.

In a televised address after confirming his re-election to the Russian presidency, Putin said he agreed when the idea arose to exchange Navalny “for some people in prisons in Western countries”.

“There was only one condition: We replace him, he will not return. Let him stay there. But that's life,” said the Russian president.

“Believe me or not. The person who spoke to me had not yet finished his sentence, and I immediately said: I agree. But Unfortunately what happened, happenedPutin mentioned Navalny by name for the first time.

Putin further described Navalny's death in an Arctic prison “A Tragic Event”.

In late February, advisers to the Russian opposition leader accused Putin of ordering the murder, days before he replaced Chechen Vadim Krazyko, who killed Georgian Zhelimzhan Kongoshvili in Berlin in August 2019, and was sentenced to life in prison. German court.

“Navalny should be released within a few days, as soon as we reach a decision on his transfer,” Navalny's close associate, Maria Bevsij, said in a video shared on YouTube.

Navalny's allies in the Russian opposition say it was Putin who made the last-minute decision to torpedo the exchange, which included American citizens.

“On February 16, 2024, Vladimir Putin killed Alexei Navalny. He killed him in a cruel and cowardly manner in a remote Siberian prison, where Navalny was cut off from the rest of the world, isolated from his family and loved ones, starved. Tortured,” Bevsij said.

The invasion of Ukraine two years ago convinced the opposition leader's collaborators to release him from prison “at any cost”.

Krasikov's name was mentioned several times in the US press in connection with the exchange of Russian citizens for Americans, including Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia for espionage.

Also, during a recent interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, Putin referred to “The Wall Street Journal” journalist Ivan Kershkovich, who has been arrested since last March, as a Russian “patriot”, in a clear reference to Krasikov. year.

Tens of thousands of Russians attended Navalny's funeral in Moscow, the largest protest in the Russian capital to date against the Kremlin's repression and war in Ukraine.