Amid the celebration of getting American citizens and Kremlin opponents out of Russian prisons, the White House had a public regret on Thursday: the failure to get an even bigger name out — Alexei Navalny.
“We were working on a deal with our partners, including Alexei Navalny, and unfortunately he died,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan revealed.
In the White House plan, President Vladimir Putin’s last real high-profile political rival was also to be included in a historic swap that saw 16 people — including three U.S. citizens and a U.S. resident — freed in exchange for the release of 10 Russians selected by the Kremlin, including two minors.
But in February 2024, as secret international talks were in a decisive phase, Navalny was pronounced dead in the notoriously brutal Russian Arctic prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence after exposing Kremlin corruption.
Navalny was a towering figure who astonished Russia watchers around the world with his bravery in standing up to Putin despite the deaths of so many other Kremlin opponents over the years.
After surviving an assassination attempt in which he was poisoned with a rare, Soviet-designed nerve agent, and then daring to return to safety in Germany after facing certain arrest in Russia, Navalny had assumed an aura of near invincibility.
His sudden death behind bars stunned the White House team, which was trying to get other inmates home.
“The team felt as if all our hopes were lost,” a senior US official told reporters.
When the news broke, national security chief Sullivan said he was with the parents of one of the other major targets of the prisoner swap plan: Ivan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia in March 2023.
“I saw Evan’s parents the day he died,” Sullivan said.
“I told them the president is determined to get this done, even with this sad news, and we will work day and night to get to that day.”
And the plan worked.
On Thursday, prisoners selected by Western countries – including Gershkovitch and a senior Russian human rights activist – were flown to Turkey and then home.
They included two former aides to Navalny: Lilia Chanysheva, 42, and Ksenia Fadeyeva, 32.
The prisoners selected by Russia – including a murderer and an accused spy – were flown to Moscow.
US Vice President Kamala Harris called Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya.
Navalnaya spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on X that Harris, who is running to replace Biden in November, called “to discuss this exchange and express her support.”
And the widow of a Russian opposition leader urged continued efforts to evacuate others.
“He called on the international community to assist in the release of other Russian political prisoners,” Yarmysh said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
