West and Russia conduct largest prisoner swap since Cold War: As it happened
Russia agreed to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan as part of a landmark prisoner exchange deal with the West that took place on Thursday.
The prisoner swap took place in multiple countries and is being regarded as one of the largest such exchanges since the end of the Cold War.
The last major prisoner swap took place in December 2022, with the US releasing Russian businessman Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner, a basketball player convicted on drug charges in Moscow.
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- 17:35 GMT
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed decrees to pardon the convicted Russian and foreign citizens who were exchanged in a prisoner swap with the West in Ankara on Thursday.
The list of those pardoned includes Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US marine Paul Whelan, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, opposition figures Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, and others, according to the Kremlin’s official website.
It’s noted in the Kremlin’s statement that the decision to pardon these individuals was made with the aim of securing the return of Russian citizens who had been detained and imprisoned in foreign countries.
- 17:33 GMT
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has confirmed that eight Russian citizens have been returned home following a mass prisoner exchange between Moscow and the West in Ankara on Thursday.
The agency noted that the Russian nationals were exchanged for a group of individuals who “acted in the interests of foreign states to the detriment of the security of the Russian Federation.”
- 16:30 GMT
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has commented on Thursday’s prisoner swap, stating that he wishes that all the traitors of Russia would “rot away and die in prison” but suggested it was more useful for Russia to return its citizens who had worked for the good of their country and their people.
As for the “traitors,” Medvedev encouraged them to “feverishly pick out new names and actively disguise themselves under the witness protection program.”
- 16:11 GMT
US President Joe Biden has announced that three Americans and one US green card holder have been freed from Russian prison as part of a prisoner exchange with Moscow.
These include Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, the president said in a statement published on the White House’s official website.
Biden added that the deal to secure their freedom was a “feat of diplomacy” and that a total of 16 people were released through the agreement, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who had been imprisoned in Russia.
- 15:40 GMT
The Wall Street Journal has announced that its reporter Evan Gershkovich has been freed amid a mass prisoner exchange between Russia and the West on Thursday.
The outlet reported that Gershkovich, along with more than a dozen other people who had been imprisoned in Russia, have left the Russian aircraft that brought them to an airport in Ankara, Turkiye. These include former US Marine Paul Whelan, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and British-Russian citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza, the WSJ reported.
- 15:40 GMT
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that official statements on the prisoner exchange between Russia and the West will be made “in due time,” expressing hope that comments will emerge by the end of the day.
- 14:31 GMT
Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan were part of the prisoner exchange in Ankara on Thursday, the Turkish presidency has confirmed in a statement shared by Reuters and several other media outlets. The swap also included German national Rico Krieger, Russian opposition figure Ilya Yashin and Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national convicted of murder in Germany in late 2021, according to Türkiye.
