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Photo: twitter.com/navalny
Putin spoke about his intentions to exchange Oleksiy Navalny
The Russian president for the first time mentioned the murdered Russian oppositionist, calling his death a "sad event".
During a press conference on Sunday, March 17, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin commented for the first time on the death of opposition leader Oleksii Navalny in the special regime penitentiary "Polar Wolf".
"As for Mr. Navalny. Yes, he passed away. This is always a sad event. We had other cases when people died in prisons. And didn't this happen in the USA?" he told reporters.
According to Putin, a few days before Navalny's death, he was told the idea of exchanging the politician "for some people" who are in prisons in Western countries.
"The person who spoke to me didn't finish the sentence yet, and I said, 'I agree.' But, unfortunately, that's what happened. Only on one condition did I say that we would exchange him so that he would not return. Let it sit there. Well, that's all. But it happens. You can't do anything about it," Putin added.
