Moscow, Feb. 28 -- Weeks before the death of Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic, he was set to be freed from prison in exchange for a Russian agent imprisoned in Germany. However, Putin was unwilling to let him go free and ordered Navalny's killing, said one of Navalny's close associates.

"Navalny was supposed to be freed in the coming days," Maria Pevchikh said in a video statement. Negotiations were underway to trade Alexei Navalny along with two Americans, for a Russian agent imprisoned in Germany.

In her video message, Pevchikh also claimed that the idea of trading Navalny for Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian assassin serving a life sentence in Germany, was presented to Vladimir Putin by Russian ...