Gorinov and Safronov were on the initial exchange list

The initial version of the list of Russian political prisoners who were supposed to be exchanged for Russian citizens imprisoned abroad included municipal deputy Alexei Gorinov, sentenced to 7 years in prison on charges of disseminating military fakes, journalist Ivan Safronov, sentenced to 22 years on charges of treason, technical director of the Navalny Live channel Daniel Kholodny, sentenced to 13 years on charges of extremism, as well as Alexei Navalny’s lawyers – Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin.

This was stated in an interview with the BBC Russian Service. told Bulgarian investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, who took part in preparing the exchange.

According to Grozev, Safronov was eventually replaced by German citizen Demuri (Dieter) Voronin, who was involved in the same criminal case and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. According to the investigator, this was what the Kremlin wanted. At the same time, according to Grozev, the German authorities knew nothing about Voronin.

The remaining political prisoners simply did not make the final list. Grozev expressed hope that they would be exchanged later.

At the same time, the initial version did not include politician Ilya Yashin, since he had declared his refusal to be exchanged. The Russian side eventually added him to the list.

• A large-scale prisoner exchange took place on August 1 in Ankara. Russia, Belarus, the United States, Germany, Norway, Poland and Slovenia took part in the process. As part of the procedure, 16 people held in colonies in Russia and Belarus were exchanged for 8 Russian citizens from Western prisons. Among those transferred by Russia were oppositionists Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov, Vadim Ostanin, Ksenia Fadeeva, Liliya Chanysheva, human rights activist Oleg Orlov, Radio Liberty and WSJ journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich, artist Sasha Skochilenko, former US Marine Paul Whelan. Most of them said that they had not submitted a petition for clemency to President Putin because they did not consider themselves guilty. Some did not give their consent to the exchange – in particular, on Sunday stated Ksenia Fadeeva, former head of Alexei Navalny’s Tomsk headquarters.
• Western authorities have released several Russian citizens accused of crimes in Europe and the United States. Among them is FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the murder of former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin. Putin promised new appointments and government awards to the released Russians.