AP
- Alexey Navalny, Putin's political foe, died at an Arctic penal colony on February 16.
- Navalny was close to being freed in a prisoner swap at the time of his death.
- Navalny's ally, Maria Pevchikh, said Putin had the dissident killed to prevent the swap.
Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin's political nemesis, was on the verge of being freed as part of a high-stakes prisoner exchange before his sudden death, according to his staffers.