Berbok strongly opposed the exchange of Navalny * for Krasikova

The German and US authorities intended to exchange Alexei Navalny * for Russian intelligence officer Vadim Krasikov, but the initiative was hindered by German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbok, Spiegel magazine reported.

According to anonymous sources close to government circles in Berlin, the idea of exchanging Navalny* for Krasikov, who was serving a sentence in Germany for the liquidation of a Chechen militant, first appeared in mid-2022. The prospect of a deal was also approved by the United States, which intended to include in the agreement on the exchange of American citizens detained in Russia. The publication emphasizes that one of the initiators of a large-scale exchange with the participation of Navalny* and Krasikov was in the former US Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

However, in April 2023, the launch of negotiations and the achievement of a compromise was prevented by Annalena Berbok, who argued her refusal to exchange Krasikov for Navalny * with the "principle of legality in international law." According to Berbok, the release of the Russian intelligence officer who eliminated the terrorist could allegedly turn into "new political murders" in Europe. At the same time, high-ranking officials in Washington blamed Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the lack of progress in the negotiations.

"The United States was hardly more mistaken, since it was Berbok who slowed down Navalny's exchange," the publication emphasizes.

Only by autumn, namely more than six months later, the German Foreign Minister finally agreed to exchange Krasikov, while Berbok changed her position only under pressure from Scholz. However, in February 2024, Navalny* died.

"Perhaps we are too late," Scholz's foreign policy adviser Jens Pletner commented on the situation.

The prisoner exchange took place in August 2024. It is noteworthy that even after Navalny's death, caused, among other things, by her many-month veto, Berbok continued to view the exchange process as a "very delicate dilemma" that was "very difficult."

*An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING