cnn newsroom. i m paula reid in washington tonight in russia, president vladimir putin is proclaiming russian unity after polls closed in a three today presidential election, with no genuine opponent running against him. putin is expected to win, keeping him in office until 2030 and continuing as russia s longest-serving leader since soviet dictator joseph stalin cnn s matthew chance is in moscow matthew, what else did putin have to say tonight well, it was a, an extraordinary post election sort of makeshift press conference, ad hoc press conference that he gave two members of the press, the local press the foreign press as well. there were members, they re asking various questions. he just finished giving his thank you speech to volunteers and to supporters in the auditorium, saying that the election victory, that the final results hasn t come in yet, but the election victory a represented essentially, and i m paraphrasing him here. a mandate for his continued work in
within the past hour or so, he confirmed actually reports that we ve heard before that the kremlin was engaged in an negotiation to possibly free alexey navalny in the days before he finally died in an arctic penal you know, colony, a death by the way, that vladimir putin described as a sad event. take a listen for mr. navalny s passed away. some colleagues told you that they were not members of the administration some people said that there is an idea to change mr. navalny for some people who are in prison in western countries, you can believe me or you can choose not to. the person who spoke to me. you have not finished his sentence. yes. i said i agree but unfortunately, what happened happened, we would exchange him i said and you pay only on one condition that he doesn t come back from the go. let them sit there. that s all that happens. what can we do about it? well they, have it paula. a pretty interesting description of the negotiations that went on, apparently