Re-elected Russian president makes first public comment on death of opposition leader, which he calls ‘sad event’
Vladimir Putin has claimed he had agreed to a prisoner swap involving Alexei Navalny before the opposition leader’s sudden death in an Arctic prison last month.
Speaking in central Moscow after early results indicated he had won Russia’s presidential election in a landslide, Putin said unnamed people made an offer to release Navalny in a swap deal with the west a few days before he died.
“The person who spoke to me hadn’t finished his sentence, and I said I agree. But, unfortunately, what happened happened,” Putin said.
It was the first time Putin has commented on Navalny since his death, which he called a “sad event”.
“I agreed under one condition: we swap him, and he doesn’t come back. But such is life,” said Putin. “When things like that happen you cannot do anything about it – that’s life.
