Putin claims he SUPPORTED releasing Navalny and says it is ‘sad’ he died after vowing to ‘defeat’ foes in ‘victory’ rant

SHAMELESS Vladimir Putin claims he was in favour of releasing his fiercest critic Alexei Navalny from the hellhole jail where he died.

The gloating dictator, 71, said during his presidential victory speech that he agreed with the proposal days before Navalny died.

Putin has inevitably secured another term as Russian leader and will be in power until at least 2030 after engineering a sham election.

He rambled on Sunday evening as it was revealed that he had achieved victory- after killing, jailing, or exiling his rivals.

Hours before the polls closed, the brazen despot delivered a "victory speech" during which he mentioned Navalny's name for the first time since 2012.

Putin said with a croaky voice: "As for Mr Navalny, yes, he passed away. It is always a sad event.

He continued: "A few days before Mr Navalny passed away, some colleagues told me, not members of my administration…

"That there was an idea to exchange Mr Navalny for some people who are incarcerated in Western countries.

"You can believe me, you may not. The person who spoke to me had not finished his sentence. I said I agree.

"But unfortunately, what happened is what happened. Only on one condition that we exchange him. He must stay there [in the West]."

Putin added: "But such is life."

Navalny, 47, died in Polar Wolf jail in the Russian Arctic on February 16 while serving a 19-year sentence on trumped-up "extremism" charges.

Western leaders and his camp claim he was "murdered" on the direct orders of Putin, and a UN human rights expert on Russia said last week that his death was Moscow's responsibility as he was either killed in prison or died from conditions that amounted to torture.

Navalny's ally Maria Pevchikh previously claimed that Navalny was poised to be freed in a prisoner swap but Putin blocked the deal at the last minute and had him killed instead.

She alleged that the West was prepared to hand over FSB killer Vadim Krasikov, a Russian hitman serving a life sentence in Germany.

It was Putin's sheer hatred for Navalny that stopped the deal from happening, Pevchikh claimed.

When reports of the prisoner swap first emerged, a Kremlin spokesperson said the president was "not aware of such agreements".

Navalny's spokesperson Kira Yarmysh shared a clip of Putin's speech to X early Monday morning, local time, with the caption: "Putin killed Alexei Navalny."

In the same rambling speech, the ageing leader ranted that "there is no democracy in the West" when he was questioned by journalists about the validity of the presidential election.

He claimed Russia's elections were more transparent than those in the United States.

Putin said: "If you want my opinion about whether our elections are democratic, yes I do believe they are democratic."

The tyrant accused the US of "using the justice machine in order to attack one of the candidates", adding: "We do not have a preference for any candidates in the US, we will work with anyone who is elected.

"But using the justice system this has become a joke, an international shame for the US for your so-called democratic system and I believe that there's no democracy in the election process in the Western countries and especially in the US."

He also pledged to "defeat" his foes, as a crowd of supporters cheered.

Putin said: "We are all one team. No one can suppress us, they will never succeed.

"But we, as one united family, can defeat them.

"And all our goals will be achieved, we will do everything to achieve this."

Polling stations across the country were hit by a wave of fire and paint attacks this weekend as Russians demonstrated their discontent with the "illegitimate" election.

Some spoiled their votes by writing the name "Navalny" on them, in support of the "murdered" opposition leader, Putin's fiercest foe.

Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya, described as the "first lady" of the Russian opposition, risked arrest to cast her vote on Sunday.

She wrote the name of her late husband on her ballot.

Speaking to reporters after casting her vote, she said: "Obviously I wrote Navalny's name.

"It can't be that a month before a presidential campaign, a month before an election, Putin's main opponent, who was already in jail, was killed."

In a message to Russian citizens, she told her supporters: "Just be brave, one day soon we will win."