Yulia Navalnaya attends a hearing at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, 5 June 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of slain opposition leader Alexey Navalny, has called on US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to agree to a new round of prisoner exchanges during their summit in Alaska on Friday.

In a video address published on X, Navalnaya urged the leaders to launch a fresh civilian prisoner exchange as a way to “ensure this summit goes down in history no matter what”.

Noting that, to her knowledge, lists of prisoners eligible for such an exchange already existed, Navalnaya stressed that Washington and Moscow could simply exchange the lists and release the people.

“Free Russian political activists and journalists. Free Ukrainian civilians. Free those imprisoned for anti-war statements and social media posts,” she continued.

“Sadly, I know better than anyone what the cost of delays in such matters can be,” Navalnaya said, referring to the death of her husband in an Arctic prison in February 2023, despite reported negotiations to include him in a prisoner exchange with the West.

“After all, you’re negotiating to end the war, so why should people remain behind bars for demanding exactly the same thing? No matter how many more rounds of talks may be needed, this step will still go down in history. Just take it,” Navalnaya concluded.

Novaya Gazeta founder and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov has repeatedly urged Moscow and Kyiv to carry out a civilian prisoner exchange, which would include thousands of Ukrainian prisoners, including hundreds being held incommunicado, as well as dozens of Russian political prisoners sentenced for their anti-war stance.

Washington and Moscow have carried out two prisoner swaps since Trump took office. In February, US schoolteacher Marc Fogel, sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison after being caught carrying a small amount of medical marijuana, was released in exchange for Russian national Alexander Vinnik, who was awaiting sentencing in the US for conspiracy to commit money laundering.

In April, Russian authorities released Ksenia Karelina, a dual Russian-US citizen who had been serving a 12-year sentence in a penal colony for a donation she made to a US nonprofit supporting Ukraine. In return, the US released Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen, who was arrested in Cyprus in 2023 and accused of exporting sensitive microelectronics.

Another major prisoner exchange took place in August 2024 under the Biden administration, with Russia releasing 16 political prisoners, including prominent opposition figures such as Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin.