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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01 August 2024
In a third video released by the FSB, Russian nationals taking part in Thursday’s Russia-West prisoner swap can be seen boarding a plane in Ankara, Türkiye to fly to Moscow.
Russia’s Federal Security Service has shared a video showing how the Russian and foreign citizens taking part in Thursday’s prisoner swap in Ankara were boarded onto a plane before taking part in the exchange.
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.
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.”
When asked if the latest prisoner swap between Russia and the West was a sign of improving relations between Washington and Moscow, US President Joe Biden responded by saying “your lips to God’s ears.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Moscow has so far refused to confirm or deny the exchange. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment to journalists on the topic of the prisoner swap, which is reportedly taking place in Türkiye.
According to NTV, ten hostages or prisoners – two of whom are children – have been handed over to Russia, while 13 prisoners were returned to Germany, and three to the US.
Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization has “carried out the most comprehensive swap operation of the recent period in Ankara,” TRT Haber has reported. It claimed that the exchange involved a total of 26 individuals held in prisons in seven different countries – the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus.
Several media outlets have also shared clips of the aircraft apparently taking part in the exchange in Ankara.
Turkish broadcaster NTV has reported that the country’s National Intelligence Organization was responsible for coordinating the prisoner swap in Ankara, adding US and Russian planes had already landed at the airport. The outlet cited the agency as saying it “has undertaken a major mediation role in this clearing operation.”
A Russian Tupolev Tu-204 belonging to the Special Flight Squadron has landed in Ankara, Türkiye, after an almost four-hour flight from Moscow. It is unclear who was onboard, but planes of the Special Flight Squadron are widely believed to be carrying persons involved in the prisoner swap.
Russian opposition outlet The Insider has reported that the swap includes Ilya Yashin and Lilia Chanysheva.
Yashin, a former Moscow councilman, was designated a foreign agent and sentenced to eight and half years in 2022 for spreading false information about the Russian military.
Chanysheva is a former employee of the late opposition activist Alexey Navalny’s nonprofit organizations. She was found guilty of creating an extremist community, inciting extremism, and establishing an organization that violated citizens’ rights in June 2023, receiving a term of seven and half years. In April, an appeals court added two and a half years to this term, deeming the original sentence too lenient.
The BBC reported that the exchange will involve 24 prisoners held in Russia, the US, Germany, and three other Western countries. The swap has not occurred yet but is expected later today.
The British outlet also suggested that the swap would include Vadim Krasikov, an alleged FSB assassin imprisoned in Germany, who was sentenced to life in prison for the 2019 killing in Berlin of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Chechen separatist with Georgian citizenship.
Evidence against him was provided by the magazine Der Spiegel, the US government-funded website Bellingcat, and the Russian opposition outlet The Insider.
Another person thought to be included in the apparent prisoner swap is Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual US/Russian citizen and journalist working for US state-run media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), an unnamed senior US official told CBS News.
Last month, she was sentenced to six and a half years in a penal colony over disseminating falsehoods about the Russian military. The outlet reported, however, that the exchange had not occurred yet.
Earlier in the day, the Slovenian outlet N1 reported that a major exchange of prisoners will involve not only Russia and the US, but also Germany and Belarus. It claimed that it could include the Russian couple Artem and Anna Dulcevs, accused of espionage by Slovenia.
Earlier this week, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko granted a pardon to a German national, Rico Krieger, who had been sentenced to death on terrorism and other charges.
Russia is also apparently releasing Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, an unnamed European official told the agency. Kara-Murza, who holds British and Russian citizenship, was sentenced last year to 25 years in a maximum-security penal colony for high treason and spreading false information about the Russian military, including by claiming that Moscow’s forces have committed war crimes during the Ukraine conflict.
He also served as vice-chairman of the Washington-based Free Russia Foundation – a US-funded pressure group which claims to “coordinate global efforts for democracy in Russia.” Moscow has designated the organization as “undesirable,” effectively curbing its activities in the country.
Bloomberg sources claimed that Gershkovich and Whelan, who received lengthy prison sentences in Russia on espionage charges, are en route to destinations outside of the country.
They added that, under the deal, the US and its allies would return an undisclosed number of prisoners to Russia that they currently hold.