Vladimir Putin’s chief opponent, Alexei Navalny, could be included in a multilateral prisoner exchange between the West and Russia, officials told The Wall Street Journal.

In 2021, the Russian leader asked his chief security adviser to consider a prisoner exchange for the release of murderer Vadym Krasikov, who was found guilty of killing Chechen dissident Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Germany in 2019.

The court established that the Russian citizen was an intelligence officer of the FSB of Russia and had the task of carrying out murders on foreign territory.

After the guilty verdict, Krasikov was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Germany declared two Russian diplomats “persons not wanted”.

However, the issue of releasing the killer has been raised by the Kremlin in negotiations with Western officials in recent years.

And now Western officials have told an American newspaper that there could be a multilateral deal to exchange Russian prisoners in Western countries, a deal that could also involve Navalny, according to Sky News.

Last month, Navalny was sentenced by a court to 19 years in prison on charges of extremism related to the activities of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBC).

He is already serving a nine-year term on a series of charges that he believes are politically motivated.