Alexei Navalny could be released as part of US-Russia prisoner swap

The largest prisoner exchange operation in recent years in which 26 prisoners were released took place in Ankara with the mediation of Turkish intelligence, TRT Haber reports.

According to the channel, prisoners held in institutions in seven countries were exchanged.

Russia will receive ten people, Germany — 13, and the United States — three, TRT Haber said.

The prisoners were flown to Turkey from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia and Belarus on a total of seven airplanes. Two planes arrived from the United States, and one each arrived in Ankara from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia, the channel said.

The National Intelligence Organization (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) of Turkey issued a statement confirming the exchange.

"Our organization played an important mediating role in this cleansing operation, which is the largest in recent times,” the statement said.

The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, US Marine Paul Whelan and former head of the Krasnoselsky municipal district Ilya Yashin (recognized as a foreign agent) were among those exchanged. Former FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for the murder of a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin, former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, and German Rico Krieger, who was pardoned in Belarus and sentenced to death, were also on the lists.

According to a CNN source, the family of one of the exchanged prisoners has already arrived in Washington, where they are awaiting a meeting with US President Joe Biden.

For the time vbeing, the Russian authorities refrain from commenting on the prisoner exchange in Turkey, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

Kevin Lik was released as part of the exchange. Nineteen-year-old Lik is a citizen of Russia and Germany. In February 2023, he was detained at the Sochi airport and later convicted of treason.

According to investigators, Lik photographed military units in Maykop and sent the photos "to a representative of a foreign state."

Germany released Russian Vadim Krasikov as part of the exchange, The Guardian said with reference to Turkish President Recep Erdogan.

In September last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Putin wanted Krasikov back to Russia. Alexei Navalny was named as one of the possible participants in the proposed exchange.

Alexei Navalny was supposed to be released as part of the August 1 prisoner exchange, his associate Leonid Volkov said.