
Navalnaya urges Putin to agree to release of anti-war prisoners at Trump summit
Navalnaya, whose husband Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison last year, spoke in a video message published on social media hours before the two leaders were set to meet in Alaska to discuss how to end the Ukraine war.
'You must take an irreversible step, something that cannot be undone,' Navalnaya said, addressing both Putin and Trump.
'Free Russian political activists and journalists. Free Ukrainian civilians. Free those imprisoned for anti-war statements and social media posts,' she said.
Trump and Putin have previously struck deals to free Russians and Americans held behind bars in the other country.
Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, negotiated a major prisoner swap last year that freed two US journalists and several Russian opposition figures in exchange for a string of alleged Russian undercover spies that had been captured in Europe.
Russia has prosecuted hundreds of people for opposing its invasion of Ukraine.
In the days after it ordered troops into its neighbor, Moscow passed strict military censorship laws that outlaw any criticism of its army or the spreading of information from non-government sources.
Kyiv says thousands of Ukrainian civilians are detained in Russia and in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia's army since its February 2022 invasion.
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