Navalnaya urges Putin to agree release of anti-war prisoners at Trump summit
Navalnaya, whose husband Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison last year, was speaking in a video message published on social media hours before the two leaders were set to meet in Alaska to discuss how to end the Ukraine war.
FILE: In this pool photograph distributed by Russia's state agency Sputnik, Russian re-elected President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation following the presidential election, in Moscow on 21 March 2024. Picture: AFP
WARSAW - Exiled Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya on Friday urged presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump to strike a deal to free Russian and Ukrainian political prisoners held captive by Moscow for speaking out against the war.
Navalnaya, whose husband Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison last year, was speaking in a video message published on social media hours before the two leaders were set to meet in Alaska to discuss how to end the Ukraine war.
"You must take an irreversible step, something that cannot be undone," Navalnaya said, addressing both Putin and Trump.
"Free Russian political activists and journalists. Free Ukrainian civilians. Free those imprisoned for anti-war statements and social media posts," she said.
Trump and Putin have previously struck deals to free Russians and Americans held behind bars in the other country.
And Trump's predecessor Joe Biden negotiated a major prisoner swap last year that freed two US journalists and several Russian opposition figures in exchange for a string of alleged Russian undercover spies that had been captured in Europe.
Russia has prosecuted hundreds of people for opposing its invasion of Ukraine.
In the days after it ordered troops into its neighbour, Moscow passed strict military censorship laws that outlaw any criticism of its army or the spreading information from non-government sources.
Kyiv says thousands of Ukrainian civilians are detained in Russia and parts Ukraine occupied by Russia's army since its February 2022 invasion.