Investigative journalist Christo Grozev told RFE/RL that there was a plan in the works to exchange Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny for convicted murderer and former colonel in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Vadim Krasikov.
At least three countries participated in the discussions -- the United States, Germany, and Russia -- Grozev said in an interview on February 27 with RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service.
Grozev’s statements could not be independently verified, but they aligned with the comments of Maria Pevchikh, chairwoman of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, who on February 26 said Navalny's associates had worked for two years to convince Western officials to negotiate a deal that would include the Kremlin critic and two U.S. citizens held in Russian prisons for Krasikov.
Pevchikh said Putin in early February was offered Krasikov in a swap for two American citizens and Navalny under a plan that Grozev said he and Pevchikh had developed.
“I received confirmation that negotiations were at the final stage in the evening of February 15. On February 16, Aleksei was killed," Pevchikh said in her video.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Investigative Journalist Says He Helped Plan Potential Navalny Prisoner Swap
Both Pevchikh and Grozev said Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was the link with Russia. Grozev, who said he also took part in the negotiations, said Russia had given its consent; however, he did not know whether Putin personally approved the exchange.
"But that was the last ingredient everybody was waiting for," he told RFE/RL.
"By the time Navalny died -- or as I believe he was killed -- it seemed like a very optimistic scenario that could work in the coming months," Grozev said.
Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, attended the Munich Security Conference to secure the final steps needed to swap Navalny, he said. Instead of news about a swap, the news came that he had died suspiciously after taking a walk at the prison colony in the Arctic where he had been held since December.
According to Grozev, the fact that Germany agreed to exchange Krasikov was a signal to the Kremlin that it would swap for not-so-high-ranking prisoners being held in Russia, which is why the Russians withdrew. The calculation on Moscow’s part was that it might be possible to get Krasikov released without having to free the Americans and Navalny.
This same thesis had been put forth by Pevchikh, however, she said Putin had been "clearly told" that the only way to get Krasikov back was to exchange him for Navalny.
In her video, Pevchikh alleged Putin “wouldn't tolerate” Navalny being set free and instead of swapping him, the Russian leader decided to “get rid of the bargaining chip.” She provided no evidence to back up her claim.
Krasikov is serving life in prison for the assassination in 2019 of a Georgian national and former Chechen rebel commander in a Berlin park. German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann on February 26 acknowledged that Germany had been asked about the prisoner swap involving Krasikov and Navalny but said she couldn’t comment.
Neither Pevchikh nor Grozev named the two U.S. citizens to be included in the exchange for Krasikov. Several Americans are currently being held in Russian prisons, including former Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on February 26 reiterated that the United States in December had proposed a swap to free Whelan and Gershkovich. Miller said the United States would not say more about the negotiations.
The Bulgarian-born Grozev, who lives in the United States, is an investigative journalist for Der Spiegel and The Insider. He also is known for having close ties with Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Grozev previously worked for the Bellingcat investigative group, and his probes into the identity of the suspects involved in the 2018 poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Britain earned him and his team the European Press Prize for Investigative Journalism.
Bellingcat's investigations also implicated the FSB in the near-fatal poisoning of Navalny in 2020.
A court in Moscow in April 2023 issued an arrest warrant for him on a charge of allegedly crossing Russia's border illegally In December. Russia's Interior Ministry also added him to its wanted list on unspecified accusations.
Human rights monitor OVD-Info said the ministry in November 2022 opened a criminal case against him, accusing him of disseminating “fake news” about the Russian military.