Back to the Seattle Mariners Newsfeed

Alexei Navalny was supposed to be included in prisoner swap with Russia before he died, WH says (2024)

US officials sought to procure the release of deceasedRussian dissident Alexei Navalnyfrom Russia duringtheir work on a broader prisoner swapwith the adversary that saw the release of three Americans Thursday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed.

Sullivan revealed the information at a White House press briefing about a breakthrough deal with the Kremlin that resulted in the release of wrongly detained American journalist Evan Gershkovich, retired US Marine Paul Whelan, and Russian-American radio journalistAlsu Kurmasheva.

“We had been working with our partners on a deal that would have included Alexei Navalny. And unfortunately, he died,” Sullivan explained.