Zakharova called the data on Navalny’s inclusion in an exchange with the United States speculation

The publication of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that Alexei Navalny (listed as terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring) is allegedly being considered for a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States is speculation. This statement was made by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova at a briefing WEFwhich was broadcast on the department’s VKontakte page.

“These are speculations that require neither official comment nor informal discussion,” she said. Zakharova emphasized that the topic of exchange cannot be discussed through American newspapers.

September 10 WSJ, citing sources among officials in several countries reportedthat Navalny could allegedly be included in the prisoner exchange deal between the United States and the Russian Federation. According to the newspaper, other Russian oppositionists are also being considered for the exchange.

Navalny has been in prison since February 2021, when the court, at the request of the Federal Penitentiary Service, replaced his suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case from 2014 with a real one. After being sentenced in March 2022 in a case of fraud and contempt of court, he was transferred to a maximum security colony in the Vladimir region, where he is serving a nine-year sentence.

At the beginning of August, the Moscow City Court carried out the fifth conviction of the oppositionist, sentencing him to a total of 19 sentences of imprisonment in a special regime colony. Navalny was also ordered to pay a fine of 850,000 rubles.