Navalny passed away, this is sad event - Putin

MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - The death of Alexei Navalny is a sad event, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"As for Mr. Navalny. Yes, he passed away. This is always a sad event," Putin said at a press conference in the wake of the Russian presidential election in the early hours of Monday.

"Regretfully, what happened happened [...] But this happens. Nothing can be done about this. This is life," Putin said about Navalny's death.

"We had other instances when people in prisons passed away," he said.

"And did not this happen in the United States? It happened, and it happened many times," Putin said, addressing to a U.S. journalist who asked him about Navalny's death.

Putin also said that he was offered to exchange Navalny for Russians in foreign prisons several days before his death and that he gave his consent to this.

"Several days before Mr. Navalny passed away, some of my colleagues, they are not executive office officials, some people, said that there is an idea to exchange Mr. Navalny for some people in prisons in Western countries," Putin said.

"You may believe me or may not, but the man who talked with me did not even finish the phrase, when I said, 'I agree'," Putin said.

At the same time, he said that he agreed on one condition. "We will exchange him so that he will not return. Let him be there," he said.