Russia releases VIDEO of biggest prisoner swap since Cold War

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has released a video showing the moment 16 people released by Moscow to the West were about to fly to Türkiye for an exchange.

Moscow and Washington swapped a total of 26 prisoners in the biggest exchange of this type in modern history.

According to the FSB, eight Russian nationals held in the US, Germany, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, and two children were exchanged for individuals who “acted in the interests of foreign states to the detriment of the security of the Russian Federation.” 

Footage published by the FSB shows Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich being driven to an airport in a bus before boarding a plane along with former US Marine Paul Whelan and German national Rico Krieger, and other prisoners.

All of the men were accompanied by Russian security officers. The clip ends with Gershkovich smiling and sitting in the cabin.

Gershkovich was arrested in March last year after being caught soliciting classified information about a major Russian state defense industry company. He was convicted of espionage in early July and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security colony.

Whelan was arrested for espionage in 2018 and sentenced in 2020. Krieger was convicted on “mercenary activity” and “terrorism” charges by a Belarusian court for detonating an explosive charge on a rail line on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence. He was sentenced to death but pardoned by President Alexander Lukashenko.

Earlier, another video was released by the Russian authorities showing President Vladimir Putin personally greeting the returning Russian captives at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport.

Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, FSB chief Aleksandar Bortnikov, and Foreign Intelligence Service head Sergey Naryshkin were also present during the welcoming ceremony. The list of people released by the West include a married couple and their children, along with six other Russian nationals.