On Thursday, the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War took place, with 24 people freed, as confirmed by the US.
The White House announced that 16 prisoners were released and are heading back to Europe and the US, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
In exchange, eight Russian prisoners were freed from US, Norwegian, German, Polish, and Slovenian prisons, with some accused of spying.
Two prisoners’ children also returned to Russia. This exchange happened on the runway at Ankara airport.
President Joe Biden confirmed that US Marine veteran Paul Whelan, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and Russian-British activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who holds a US green card, are also on their way back to the US.
According to BBC, this swap, the largest since the Cold War, was over 18 months in the making and was crucially dependent on Russia’s demand for the return of Vadim Krasikov, serving a life sentence in Germany for an assassination in Berlin.
Senior US officials described Krasikov as “the biggest fish the Russians wanted back.” Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials welcomed the returning Russians at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.
Previously, discussions about including jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in the swap collapsed after his death in February, a detail highlighted by BBC.
The White House views this as the most complex exchange in US-Russian history. President Biden praised the diplomatic efforts, thanking many countries for their participation in the negotiations. He stated that the released individuals were convicted in unfair “show trials” and given long prison terms without legitimate reasons.
He joined the families of the freed Americans and Kara-Murza for a call from the Oval Office after the exchange.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy welcomed the release, especially of Kara-Murza and Whelan, who also hold British citizenship.
The Kremlin stated that 13 prisoners were pardoned to secure the Russians’ return from abroad. However, there was no explanation for why the names of two Germans, Patrick Schobel and Herman Moyzhes, were missing from the pardon list.
German citizen Rico Krieger, previously sentenced to death in Belarus and later pardoned, was also released. Russian political prisoners Ilya Yashin and Oleg Orlov were included in the deal.
The Turkish government, maintaining good relations with both the US and Russia, hosted the swap at Ankara airport.
Prisoners from both sides were taken off aircraft, moved to secure locations by Turkish security, and then put on planes to their home countries.
According to a US official, two children returned to Russia with their parents, Artyom Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, convicted of spying in Slovenia.
This major exchange followed days of speculation, especially after several dissidents and journalists jailed in Russia were moved to unknown locations.
BBC notes that although secret prison transfers are common in Russia, the multiple disappearances of well-known prisoners were unusual.
The last significant prisoner swap was in December 2022, when US basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Another notable exchange happened in Vienna in 2010, when 10 Russian spies in the US were swapped for four double agents in Russia, including Sergei Skripal, later poisoned in Salisbury in 2018.
BBC reports that tensions between Moscow and the West have been high, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c29d6k382k5o