Russia has agreed on Thursday to free US reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-US marine Paul Whelan in major prisoner swap.
Gershkovich is an American journalist and reporter for The Wall Street Journal who reporting from Russia. In March 2023, he was held by Russia’s Federal Security Service on espionage allegations, making him the first journalist from an American publication to be arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.
On July 19, Gershkovich was convicted unusually swiftly on espionage charges that he denies. He was handed 16 years in jail and Russia has already confirmed talks about his possible exchange.
Whelan, a Canadian-born former US Marine, holds US, British, Irish, and Canadian citizenship. He was arrested in Russia on December 28, 2018, and charged with spying. On June 15, 2020, he received a 16-year prison term.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian-British dissident, also jailed in Russia, have suddenly disappeared from view along with Whelan, their lawyers said a day earlier, after at least seven Russian dissidents were unexpectedly moved from their prisons in recent days.
Other US nationals behind bars in Russia include former schoolteacher Marc Fogel, convicted for possessing marijuana, which he said he used for medical reasons.
Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was also convicted in a secret trial the same day and sentenced to 6-1/2 years, accused of spreading false information about the Russian army. She denies wrongdoing.
The White House said it negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, worked on in secrecy for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners – 16 moving from Russia to the West and eight sent back to Russia from the West.
They included Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murdering an exiled dissident in Berlin, the German government said.
US President Joe Biden hailed the deal as “a feat of diplomacy and friendship” and praised Washington’s allies for their “bold and brave decisions.”
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, buoyed by the occasion, greeted freed Americans Gershkovich, Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, as well as Russian dissident and U.S. resident Vladimir Kara-Murza, as they arrived at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, shortly before midnight (0400 GMT).
The president took off his lapel pin and gave it to Whelan as he got off the Bombardier Global 7500 aircraft.
The deal gives the Biden-Harris administration a marquee diplomatic success with the presidential campaign, pitting Harris against Republican former President Donald Trump, barely three months away.
Harris, poised to be the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the race last month, praised his leadership for bringing together the complex prisoner swap, telling reporters on the tarmac it was a testament to American leadership.
