Abrams's quiet diplomacy in Navalny case ends in tragedy

the process of releasing Alexei Navalny from the penal colony accelerated after Roman Abramovich visited Moscow in the past few months.

independent Russian media claim that Roman Abramovich met with Vladimir Putin on Friday, a few hours before the prison authorities announced Navalny's death on 16 February in a penal colony in Siberia.

Alexei Navalny's advisor, Maria Pevchikh, said soon after his death that Abramovich was involved in building agreement and "delivered a proposal to the Kremlin for an exchange for Navalny." She added that he served as an "informal negotiator in contacts with American and European officials".

meanwhile, sources close to Roman Abramovich report that he was "stunned," as soon as he heard that Navalny had died while negotiations were still taking place in Moscow.

read also: This is what Navalny’s grave looks like today. Putin won't like this sight

asked whether Roman Abramovich negotiated a prisoner exchange with Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied, "You can ask Abramovich's representatives. It's not a question for us. "

a Western diplomat told CNN, that in his opinion, the chance of a prisoner exchange, including Navalny, was 7 or even 8 out of 10. Others say negotiations were still at an informal stage and there was no sign of an agreement being reached. They suspect Vladimir Putin deceived everyone and ordered the prisoner to be killed.

In the summer of 2022, investigative journalist Christo Grozev approached Hillary Clinton during the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado. He had been cooperating with Alexei Navalny's team for several years.

according to someone familiar with the meeting, Clinton told Grozev she had followed his cooperation with Navalny, which included exposing the identity of the FSB team that poisoned Navalny. Clinton said she also saw a documentary about Navalny that Grozev helped to make.

Grozev told CNN that Clinton "initially conveyed a message" to U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. A source confirmed that Clinton contacted Sullivan. However, the National Security Council declined to comment.

sullivan revealed that "at the beginning of February, Putin was offered to exchange Vadim Krasikov, an assassin and FSB officer serving a life sentence for murder in Berlin, for two American citizens and Alexei Navalny."

In a conversation with Tucker Carlson in Moscow, Putin suggested, that the deal would be made in exchange for "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was accused of espionage in Russia and imprisoned in Moscow. Today, he is a bargaining chip in the hands of Putin and his people.

read also: They appeared at Navalny's grave. What will Putin's people do?

The final terms of the proposed deal are unclear, but a source close to Navalny's team said the expanded proposal includes the possible release of both Gershkovich and another American detained in Russia, Paul Whelan, as well as Navalny.

The versions of events kept changing, and the ultimate question was always "who will tell Putin about the proposal?". Everyone was afraid. Except for Roman Abramovich, who decided to negotiate. However, he didn't act quickly enough to save Alexei Navalny. Or was simply deceived by Vladimir Putin.