The head of Navalny's foundation suggested lifting sanctions on Russia in exchange for political prisoners.

Ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) Maria Pevchikh has proposed the lifting of some sanctions on Russia in exchange for the release of political prisoners.

In an interview on the YouTube channel "Popular Politics," she stated that she considers the potential exchange of sanctions for the lives of political prisoners an important step, despite moral doubts.

Pevchikh pointed out that given the number of incarcerated individuals in Russia—at least 1500 people—such an exchange might be more significant than maintaining the current sanctions.

In her view, human lives should take precedence over economic measures.

This proposal from the "oppositionist" has sparked a wave of critical comments, which can be summarized into several points:

- Sanctions were imposed to exert pressure on Russia in its war against Ukraine, so exchanging Russians for the lives of Ukrainians is unacceptable;

- Many investigations by FBK lead to political criminal cases in Russia, and FBK is suggesting exchanging these prisoners for concessions for the regime, which is illogical;

- Will FBK be willing to exchange political prisoners for the lifting of sanctions on those responsible for Navalny's death;

- Such a mechanism for lifting sanctions would only provoke Putin's regime to carry out new political arrests to replenish the "exchange fund."

It is worth noting that a similar idea was proposed by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya back in 2022: "She appealed to European politicians with a proposal for negotiations with Lukashenko: he releases political prisoners, and in return, sanctions against his regime are lifted," as reported by EuroRadio. This idea has not been realized in the years since.