Vladimir Putin became Russian president again this Sunday with an overwhelming victory. The celebrations have not been long in comingbut beyond singers, threats to the West and commemorations for the ten years of the annexation of Crimea, Putin had another surprise in store and that is that for the first time in 11 years he has been heard mentioning the name of his greatest opponent: Alexei Navalny.

Until this Monday, the Russian president always referred to the recently deceased, in suspicious circumstances when he was serving a sentence in a prison in the Arctic, indirectly, however, this time he has had no problem pronouncing his name. Of course, to say without a hint of shame that his death in prison “a sad event.”

Specifically, he spoke these words: “As for Mr. Navalni, yes, he has died. It’s always a sad event. We’ve had other cases where people have died in prison… Hasn’t that happened in the United States? It has happened, and repeatedly.”

In that line he has given other “unexpected” touches for everyone about what happened a few weeks ago. “A few days before Mr. Navalni died, some colleagues, who were not members of the presidential administration, told me that there was an idea ofexchange Mr. Navalni by some people who are imprisoned in Western countries,” Putin said before a packed Red Square.

“You may believe me, you may not. The person who spoke to me had not yet finished his sentence and I said, ‘I agree.’ But unfortunately, what happened is what happened,” he continued, later adding that He only imposed the condition that it would be exchanged “so that he would not come back” and justified what happened with the fact that “things happen” in which “there’s nothing you can do about it.”