Alexei Navalny was about to be released in a prisoner swap when he died, according to his ally Maria Pevchikh.
He said there would be an exchange between Russia's opposition leader and Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a life sentence in Germany for murder.
Two Americans currently held in Russia will also be included in the deal, Pevchikh claimed.
He added that negotiations entered the final stage on February 15.
The next day, Navalny died in his cell in a Siberian penal colony. There, he was being held on a 19-year sentence on charges widely seen as politically motivated. Prison officials said the 47-year-old man became ill after a “walk.”
In a video posted on Navalny's YouTube channel, Pevchikh, chairman of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), said prisoner exchange negotiations had been going on for two years.
Furthermore, since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, “It was clear that President Putin would stop at nothing,'' and Navalny “must be released as soon as possible.'' ” he said.
Pevchik said Navalny would be released under humanitarian exchanges, and negotiations involved American and German officials.
As a result of this process, a concrete plan for the prisoner exchange was finally finalized in December, she said.
Vadim Krasikov, a Russian man convicted of shooting former Chechen rebel commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in the head at point-blank range in Germany in 2019, was expected to be part of the deal.
Pevchiv said two Americans currently held in Russia would also be exchanged, although he did not name them.
Pevchikh said Russian President Vladimir Putin changed his mind at the last minute. “The release of Mr. Navalny is unacceptable,” he said, adding that there was an agreement “in principle” to release Mr. Krasikov and that Mr. Putin had decided to “remove the bargaining chip.”
“President Putin was furious with his hatred for Navalny,” Pevchiv said. “He knows that Mr. Navalny could have defeated him.”
A German government spokesperson said on Monday that the government “cannot comment on reports” about the prisoner exchange plan at this time.
Pevchiv's video racked up hundreds of thousands of views within an hour of its release.
The Kremlin has not yet responded to Mr. Pevchiv's claims, but Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously called allegations of government involvement in Mr. Navalny's death “ridiculous.”