Navalny should have been traded on the eve of his death – Bild

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main rival in Russia, Alexei Navalny, is believed to be dead. The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation announced this on Friday, February 16, but Western media are wondering why the message about the alleged death of a prominent political prisoner of the Russian Federation came now, the German newspaper Bild writes.

According to the publication, Navalny could be traded for Vadim Krasikov, the Russian who killed the former Chechen commander in Berlin’s Tiergarten park, in the coming weeks or months. Putin talked about a possible swap in an interview with American Tucker Carlson.

“Navalny’s death shows how unstable Putin’s system really is. If the situation were stable, there would be no need for the Kremlin to imprison, torture and kill opponents. Putin treats the outside world as if he has 100 percent confidence in his power. But this is 2018-2020 Moscow “This move shows how afraid he is of the Russian opposition,” said Julius von Freitag-Loringhofen, president of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Germany.

Important

Although the dissident’s closest associates have yet to confirm his death, Russian and Western experts claim the culprit is Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

“There is no doubt that Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. The Kremlin launched a poisonous attack on Navalny in 2020, imprisoned him in 2021 and sent him in the most terrible conditions to a colony above the Arctic Circle,” Bild said.

Why did Navalny have to die now?

According to Western experts, Navalny, at first glance, does not pose any threat to Putin in the upcoming elections. However, according to the publication, reports have emerged of a possible deal: Russia will extradite the murderer from Tiergarten and in return release American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alexei Navalny. However, according to analysts, it is clear that the Kremlin does not want to do this under any circumstances. And in general, according to the publication, the Kremlin could see everything differently.

“If the official, that is, fraudulent election results were very different from the real results, this could cause a new wave of demonstrations and at the same time increase doubts about Putin in the power structures,” experts say.

They think the Kremlin calculated that if there was a spark in the sham presidential election, Navalny could turn it into a fire even from prison, because he is the personification of Russia’s discontent with Putin.

Recalling Navalny’s big interview with Bild in 2020, analysts emphasize: “He was the main figure of the demonstrations. He is the only alternative, he is not loyal to the system. He certainly does not lack self-confidence.”

That’s when Russia’s main opposition leader said he would defeat Putin’s party in “free and fair elections.” Experts remember that in 2013, Navalny proved that he was capable of achieving good results: in the Moscow mayoral elections he immediately received 27% of the votes.

“The Kremlin took this result as a clear warning that he would never be able to run for office again,” Bild said.

The publication emphasizes that if the Kremlin’s grim death report is true, Navalny will be left with a wife, two children and a country where the opposition leader no longer exists.

Let us recall that on February 16 the RF Federal Penitentiary Service stated: Alexey Navalny died 47 years old, in a correctional colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

The politician’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said she did not know in her speech at the Munich Security Conference. Can messages be trusted? Russian state media about her husband’s death.