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Russia released three Americans and one US green-card holder, the White House confirmed Thursday, as part of the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza were among the 16 individuals released from Russia in exchange for 8 Russians being held in the West. US President Joe Biden said 24 individuals involved in the swap have left the countries where they were being held and will be home soon.
Gershkovich had been detained in the country for more than 490 days; Whelan for 2,043.
Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony for alleged espionage in July. Russia has never given any evidence for the claims against him. He was detained on assignment in Yekaterinburg, becoming the first American held on allegations of spying in the country since the Cold War.
At the end of a pro-forma official request for presidential clemency Gershkovich was asked to write while in detention, The Wall Street Journal reported, he made a proposal: After his release, “Would Putin be willing to sit down for an interview?”
Whelan was arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years on unfounded accusations of espionage. US officials said both he and Gershkovich were “wrongly detained.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan, who teared up in the White House briefing room, said that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was supposed to be part of the swap but died before it was finalized.
Morgan Chalfant contributed to this report.
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The Insider, an independent media outlet covering Russia, reported that Russia has also released Lilia Chanysheva, Ilya Yashin, Ksenia Fadeeva, Andrei Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov, Sasha Skocilenko, Dieter Voronin, Kevin Lick, Rico Krieger, Patrick Schöbel, Herman Moyzhes, and Vadim Ostanin.
In return eight prisoners — Vadim Krasikov, Artem Dulcev, Anna Dulceva, Mikhail Mikushin, Pavel Rubtsov, Roman Seleznev, Vladislav Klyushin, and Vadim Konoshenko — were released to Russia, The Insider said. The US has confirmed the number but not the list of names.
The last known US-Russia prisoner swap was in 2022, when Russia released WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for Viktor Bout, one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. Griner was jailed for having legally prescribed cannabis-oil vape cartridges in her luggage at a Russian airport; Bout was known as the “Merchant of Death” for allegedly selling weapons to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and militants in Rwanda.
The View From The White House
The deal was “a feat of diplomacy,” that compounded the importance of having allies, Biden said in remarks at the White House. He commended the “bold and brave decisions” made by Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey, noting that Germany had to make “significant concessions” to help the US achieve the deal. Germany asked for “nothing” in return, Biden said.
“Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world, friends you can trust work with and depend on,” he said.
Biden said he and the families of the prisoners spoke with their loved ones from the Oval Office on Thursday. “Welcome almost home,” the president told them.
He added that he would not stop working until all Americans wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world are returned home.
The View From Russia
Without overtly commenting on the swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state-run media Thursday that “I believe that all our enemies should stay there [abroad], and all those who are not our enemies should return.” Peskov said he hoped to speak directly on the swap later Thursday.
“Let the traitors now feverishly pick up new names and actively disguise themselves under witness protection programmes,” Former president Dmitry Medvedev said.
The swap could indicate that Russia and the West are ready to negotiate in other areas, Russian diplomat Sergei Ordzhonikidze told state media.
“This is a kind of signal that both sides are ready for action, perhaps for some serious political negotiations,” Ordzhonikidze said. “Such gestures are made before that. Such a development of events is possible.”
Officials involved went to “great efforts to keep the information inside Russia as much a secret as possible until the last moment,” a source told the Politika.Kozlov Substack ahead of the swap, but speculation of an exchange grew this week after several jailed dissidents and journalists were moved from their prison cells to unknown locations.
The View From Turkey
Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency said Thursday that it was coordinating the swap, Reuters reported, which it said was set to include 26 prisoners from the United States, Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus. Turkey said ten prisoners would be sent back to Russia, while 13 would be sent to Germany and three to the US.
The View From Germany
“The German government did not take this decision lightly,” a spokesperson for the federal government said in a statement, adding that the nation’s interest in enforcing prison sentences for those convicted was ultimately “offset by the freedom, physical well-being and — in some cases — ultimately the lives of innocent people imprisoned in Russia and those wrongfully imprisoned for political reasons.”
“Our obligation to protect German citizens and solidarity with the United States were important motivators,” the statement said.
Morgan Chalfant contributed to this report.
The View From The UK
“I welcome the release of a number of prisoners held in Russia, including Vladimir Kara-Murza, Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer posted on X. “My thoughts are with them and their loved ones as they are reunited.”
“We will continue to call on Russia to uphold freedom of political expression,” he added.