Navalny: was a prisoner swap planned just before his death?
According to his allies, the murdered Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was due to be swapped for the "Tiergarten murderer", Vadim Krasikof, who is imprisoned in Germany. Maria Pevchikh, chairwoman of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, explained that secret negotiations were at their final stage. The media discuss the implications of the negotiations and whether they were sabotaged.
Putin could not let Navalny go
In a Telegram post picked up by Echo, journalist Alexei Kovalyov describes a full-blown anti-Navalny machine:
“Putin's irrational and therefore counterproductive hatred of Navalny had become one of the less explicitly articulated foundational pillars of state ideology. With an entire propaganda department dedicated to it. ... Judging by the number of staff working there, it is a full-blown ministry with a number of sub-departments: security, espionage, ideology, etc. All these hundreds if not thousands of people were solely occupied with catering to Putin's phobia. Conversely, according to the logic of this industry, a living Navalny was definitely incompatible with a living Putin, which unfortunately led to the outcome we have today.”
Ensuring the allegiance of secret agent network
Political scientist Abbas Galliamov explains on Facebook why getting back the "Tiergarten murderer" had such high priority for the Kremlin:
“Many people are wondering: who the hell is this Krasikov? Why on earth would Putin want to swap Navalny for him? ... In fact the Russian president's motive is all too obvious: his agents need to know that he would do anything for them to get them out of a foreign prison. Only in return for actions like this will they continue to obey orders and kill undesirables abroad. If he does not show enough commitment, they will start to question whether it's worth their while to take such risks.”
Dilemmas for the West?
If what Navalny's allies are saying about a planned prisoner swap is true, then Putin has duped the West yet again, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
“He knows now that in principle the West is even prepared to release a security service hitman. This could prompt the Kremlin to take more hostages - and confront the West with all kinds of awful dilemmas. It could encourage Putin to have murders carried out even more brazenly than has already been the case in EU and Nato states.”