Page 41 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine September 2024

bne September 2024 Eastern Europe I 41
was the first to identify Krasikov as a Russian hitman, who had been travel- ling under a false name, and became instrumental in lobbying for Navalny’s release, The Guardian reports. Grozev believed it was possible to persuade Germany to release Krasikov in exchange for Navalny.
Grozev pushed the US special presi- dential envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, to ask Russian oligarch
exchange. Negotiations then involved securing agreements from allies in Slovenia and Norway to include their detained Russian spies in the swap, mak- ing the deal more palatable for Berlin. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was rightly worried about a public backlash if he released and pardoned a mur- derer that had carried out a hit in broad daylight in the centre of the German capital. In order to sell the exchange to the German public a bigger deal was
officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos, leading to direct discussions between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Biden.
An eight-for-eight deal emerged, potentially involving Navalny, Gersh- kovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, among others. Final approval from Putin seemed assured. However, just as the deal was about to be final- ised, Navalny died under unexplained circumstances in a remote Arctic penal colony, taking that card off the table and making the exchange unworkable.
However, after several changes of personnel on the US side, the deal was eventually revived, finally resulting in the August 1 exchange.
Grozev was out shopping for clothes for the Western prisoners, who had arrived still wearing their prison fatigues,
when he talked to Shaun Walker of The Guardian. The freed prisoners expressed mixed feelings about their release and have caused some controversy by say- ing they would like to return to Russia and that sanctions on “ordinary Rus- sians” should be eased, but all of them expressed sadness that Navalny was not among their number.
“In order to sell the exchange to the German public a bigger deal was needed and in the end five Germans were included in the exchange”
Roman Abramovich to intervene. Abramovich, who is close to Putin and was also involved as a backchannel in informal negotiations with Ukraine, was seen as a conduit to the Russian presi- dent. Initially he hesitated but eventu- ally conveyed the proposal to Putin, who surprisingly agreed, according to Grozev, speaking to The Guardian.
By autumn, Putin had given his approval in principle to the Navalny-Krasikov
needed and in the end five Germans were included in the exchange.
The negotiations, documented by
a Wall Street Journal investigation, involved numerous players across Washington, Berlin and Moscow. A sig- nificant role was played by Ella Milman, Gershkovich's mother, who tirelessly lobbied US officials, including door- stopping US national security advisor Jake Sulivan. She also met with German
First F-16 fighters arrive in Kyiv, but they will make no difference on the battlefield
Ben Aris in Berlin
Ukraine has received its first batch of fourth-generation US-made F-16 fighter jets, after more than two years of delays, but the high tech planes will make almost no difference to the war in Ukraine as they are too few, too late.
The delivery marks a significant milestone a year after the "fighter jet coalition," led by Denmark and the Netherlands, was formed at the Vilnius Nato summit to supply Ukraine with the badly needed fighter jets.
The transfer was reportedly completed by the end of July, although the exact number of jets remains undisclosed.
Ukraine has been at a serious disadvan- tage in air power since the first days of the war. After Russian forces crossed the border into Ukraine on February
28, 2022, Ukrainian President Volody- myr Zelenskiy immediately took to the airwaves and called on Nato to “close the skies” to the Russian air force.
“Ukraine needs military equipment – with-
out restrictions,” Zelenskiy said in a video address in March 2022. “Ukraine asked for your planes. So we don’t lose so many people. And you have thousands of fighter jets. But we haven’t been given any yet.”
But when the aid was not forthcoming by May Zelenskiy became more strin- gent and lashed out at Nato for ignoring Ukraine’s plight and leaving it effectively defenceless against Russia’s forces.
“We believe that Nato countries them- selves have created the narrative that
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