Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier on Monday that he supported the idea of ​​releasing late opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prisoner swap, just days before the death of his greatest enemy.

In his first comments on Navalny’s death, Putin said of the dissident’s death: “It happened. You can’t do anything about it. That’s life.”

What was unusual about the comments was that they were the first time in years that he mentioned Navalny’s name multiple times and that they came at a late-night news conference as the results of the presidential election were pouring in. The election is sure to prolong his rule.

Early election results showed him leading with more than 87% of the vote in an uncontested race after years of ruthless suppression of opposition and the weakening of independent media.

Navalny’s allies also said last month that talks were ongoing with Russian and Western officials over a prisoner exchange involving Navalny. Maria Pevchikh, a long-time aide to the politician, said talks were in the final stages just days before the Kremlin critic’s sudden and unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony.

She accused Putin of “getting rid” of Navalny so as not to swap him, but she provided no evidence to support her claims, which could not be independently verified.

Putin said on Monday that “certain colleagues outside the (presidential) government” told him about the “idea of ​​exchanging Navalny for certain people in prison facilities in Western countries” days before Navalny’s death, without providing any evidence. . He said he supported the idea.

“Believe it or not, but when I said ‘I agree,’ the person I was talking to didn’t even finish the sentence,” Putin said in response to a reporter’s question about Navalny’s death. He added that one of his conditions was that Navalny would not return to Russia.

“But unfortunately, whatever happened, happened,” Putin said.

Navalny, 47, Russia’s most prominent opposition politician, died last month while serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges that he denied were politically motivated. His allies, family and Western officials blamed the death on the Kremlin, a charge the Kremlin denies.

Associates of the politician said officials listed “natural causes” in documents produced by Navalny’s mother when she tried to retrieve Navalny’s body.

Navalny has been imprisoned since January 2021, when he voluntarily returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He was immediately arrested. The Kremlin has strongly denied being behind the poisoning.

Pevchikh claimed that there were plans to replace Navalny and two American citizens imprisoned in Russia with Vadim Krasikov. He is serving a life sentence for the 2019 killing of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen origin in Berlin. German judges said Krasikov acted on orders from Russian authorities.

She did not disclose the identities of the U.S. citizens allegedly involved in the deal. Several people have been detained in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested on espionage charges, and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan who was serving a lengthy espionage sentence. imprisonment. They and the U.S. government dispute the charges against them.

German officials declined to comment when asked whether Russia had made any efforts to exchange Krasikov.

Putin had earlier said the Kremlin was willing to negotiate on Gershkovich. He noted that a man imprisoned in an “American-allied country” for “bandit suppression” allegedly killed Russian soldiers during separatist fighting in Chechnya. Putin did not mention Krasikov by name but appeared to mention Krasikov.