Could a prisoner exchange have saved Alexei Navalny from death? No, believes Russian journalist Andrei Soldierov. Here he talks about the perfidious game played by the Russian secret service.
Mr. Schlachtov, which sides exactly negotiated in the Navalny case?
On the Russian side, this is relatively easy to say: the domestic secret service FSB. The Secret Service is in charge of almost everything that concerns prisoner exchanges. They determine where the person will be housed in Russia, what they will be fed and how they will be treated in captivity. Competent FSB generals then negotiate the specific terms of the handover in the background with the representatives of the states with which prisoners are to be exchanged. But Putin basically has the last word. Especially in the Navalny case.
And on the western side?
This is particularly unclear in the Navalny case. Normally it is the USA that negotiates with Russia on the other side. Especially if the prisoners are US citizens or the person worked for American secret services such as the CIA. That is not the case with Navalny. He is neither a US citizen nor was he employed by the US government. The deal is said to have involved not only the release of Navalny, but also two US citizens. But the political focus, both in Russia and the West, was on the Russian opposition. Since the FSB man Wadim K., for whom Navalny should have been exchanged, is in prison in Germany and Navalny already maintained close relations with Germany, one can assume that the Germans in particular were actively involved in negotiations here.
What goals did Russia pursue with the planned exchange of Navalny?