Putin claims he agreed to a prisoner swap involving Navalny before his death

Re-elected Russian president makes first public comment on death of oppostion leader, which he calls ‘sad event’

Vladimir Putin has claimed he had agreed to a prisoner swap involving the opposition leader Alexei Navalny before his sudden death in an Arctic prison last month.

Speaking in central Moscow after early results indicated he had won Russia’s presidential election in a landslide, Putin said unnamed people made an offer to release Navalny in a swap deal with the west a few days before he died.