Yulia Navalnaya presses for prisoner release before Putin–Trump talks

Exiled Russian opposition member Yulia Navalnaya urged Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on Friday to reach an agreement to liberate Russian and Ukrainian political prisoners detained by Moscow for speaking out against the conflict.

Navalnaya, whose husband Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison last year, spoke in a video message posted on social media hours before the two leaders were scheduled to meet in Alaska to discuss ways to stop the Ukraine conflict.

“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 reached agreements to liberate Russian and American citizens imprisoned in the other nation.

Last year, Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden orchestrated a massive prisoner swap in which two US journalists and many Russian opposition members were released in return for a number of alleged Russian undercover operatives apprehended in Europe.

Russia has punished hundreds of people who opposed its invasion of Ukraine.

In the days following its decision to send soldiers into neighbouring countries, Moscow enacted severe military censorship regulations that prohibited any criticism of the army or the dissemination of information from non-government sources.

According to Kyiv, thousands of Ukrainian people have been jailed in Russia and regions of Ukraine controlled by Russia’s troops since the invasion in February 2022.