US Vice President Kamala Harris has called Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late Alexei Navalny, to discuss a prisoner swap between Russia and the West.
The exchange includes three former members of Navalny's regional campaign apparatus, as well as one former Navalny ally, Ilya Yashin, AFP reported. The American journalist Evan Gershkovich is also free.
Navalnaya's team said earlier that Alexei, the main opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was to be included in a prisoner swap before his sudden death in a remote Russian prison colony in February.
Navalna and Western countries blamed the Kremlin for his death.
A White House spokesman said Navalnaya thanked Harris in the conversation "for US assistance in arranging the exchange."
She also "called on the international community to assist in the release of other Russian political prisoners."
Harris is on track to become the Democratic nominee for President of the United States after Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign.
Like Biden, she has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in February 2022.
Earlier this year, Harris said Navalny's death was "another sign of Putin's brutality." | BGNES
