The U.S. had sought to include former Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as part of its prisoner exchange with Russia before he died in February under mysterious circumstances, Jake Sullivan, national security adviser, said Thursday.
Thursday's large prisoner exchange saw Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American and retired Marine Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen of people free, the White House said.
Releasing Navalny was part of those negotiations, Sullivan said. Four people who worked for Navalny were freed, President Joe Biden said.
The U.S. was "working with our partners on a deal that would have included Alexei Navalny," Sullivan said. "In fact, on the very day that he died, I saw Evan's parents. I told them that the president was determined to get this done even in light of that tragic news and that we were going to work day and night to get to this day.
"That work continued over the course of the past few months and culminated into today."
In 2021, Navalny was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he exposed corruption in Russia, including people close to Russian leader Vladmir Putin. He had previously survived an assassination attempt from the Kremlin with a military-grade nerve agent.
In March, Putin said he agreed to a prisoner swap involving Navalny days before his death.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.