Harris assures support for Navalny's widow amid prisoner swap

Kamala Harris phoned Julia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, on Thursday, following a successful exchange of political prisoners.

The Vice President of the United States expressed her gratitude for Navalny and his wife's fight for a "democratic Russia", and also conveyed her support to the widow of the deceased oppositionist.

Information about the phone call was shared by Navalnaya's spokesperson on platform X.

The White House confirmed earlier that same day that efforts were made to secure the release of Navalny, who died on 16 February in a penal colony in the Arctic Circle.

Three activists who managed Navalny's offices in various regions of Russia—Lilia Chanysheva, Vadim Ostanin, and Ksenia Fadeeva—regained freedom as a result of the prisoner exchange.

Alexei Navalny was an undisputed, although informal, Russian opposition leader in recent years. He was a well-known critic of Kremlin policies, a member of the Russian Opposition Coordinating Council, and the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation. This foundation, among other things, exposed President Vladimir Putin's wealth.

Navalny was arrested in January 2021, upon returning from Germany, where he was treated after a failed poisoning attempt, likely conducted by Russian special services. He was sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment for alleged financial crimes.

On Thursday in Ankara, a prisoner exchange occurred between the West and Russia. As a result of this exchange, 26 people on both sides were freed, including Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian oppositionist who also holds British citizenship; Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who holds US, Canadian, British, and Irish citizenships; and "Wall Street Journal" journalist Evan Gershkovich.