Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan Freed in Russia-West Prisoner Swap

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW:

Russia freed American journalist Evan Gershovitch and ex-Marine Paul Whelan on Thursday in the largest prisoner exchange of its kind since the end of the Cold War.

The White House said the US had negotiated trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, which was negotiated in secret for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners, of whom 16 were moved from Russia to the West and eight prisoners held in the West were sent back to Russia.

Among them was Vadim Krashikov, who was 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”.

The prisoners freed from Russia landed late Thursday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and were greeted by Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their shocked families.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met the prisoners returning to Russia upon their arrival in Moscow, saying they would be awarded state awards.

“Today is a powerful example of why it is vital to have friends in this world,” Biden said at the White House earlier, flanked by relatives of the freed prisoners.

Biden said he owes a special debt of gratitude to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who made the politically difficult choice to release Krasikov.

The deal provides the Biden administration with an incredible diplomatic success as the US election campaign, pitting Harris against former Republican President Donald Trump, enters its final months.

However, the multi-country deal appeared to be a one-off exchange that does not restore the competitive US-Russia relationship.

US deputy national security adviser John Feiner told CNN that US-Russia relations remain “in a very difficult place” despite the prisoner exchange. “There was no trust in this relationship or negotiation,” Feiner said.

said the critics Freeing Russians convicted of serious crimes could encourage more hostage-taking by US enemies.

Trump, who said he had no details on the swap, asked if “murderers, murderers or thugs” were being released. “Just curious because we never make good deals, on anything, but mostly on hostage exchanges,” the Republican presidential candidate said on social media.

Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus also joined the agreement. Turkey coordinated the exchange.

The Kremlin said in a statement that its decision to pardon and release prisoners “was made with the aim of returning Russian citizens detained and imprisoned in foreign countries.”

Free Russian dissidents

The last major exchange between the United States and Russia in 2010 involved 14 prisoners. The two countries had a high-profile exchange in December 2022, swapping US basketball star Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years for having cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, for arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a prison sentence 25 years old.

The release of the Russians convicted in the West represented a victory for Putin, who had said he wanted Krashikov back. Their homeland “hadn’t forgotten you for a moment,” he told them at the airport.

Krasikov is a colonel in Russia’s FSB security service who was serving a life sentence in Germany for killing an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.

Among the Westerners freed was Gershkowitz, a Wall Street Journal reporter accused of collecting sensitive military intelligence for the US Central Intelligence Agency, a charge he and his employer denied.

Whelan is a former US Marine who served a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on espionage charges he denied.

Rico Krieger, a German, had been sentenced to death in Belarus on charges of terrorism. He was pardoned by President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, before being released.

Also released was Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist who was sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison on July 19, the same day as Gershkovich, as well as Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian-British dissident and US resident serving 25 years for treason after saying Putin was bombing Ukrainian homes, hospitals and schools.

Human rights activist Oleg Orlov and Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin were released along with them.

In the West, dissidents are seen by governments and activists as unjustly detained political prisoners. All, for different reasons, have been labeled by Moscow as dangerous extremists.

Many of those released had worked with Alexei Navalny, Russia’s top opposition figure, who died in unclear circumstances at an Arctic penal colony in February. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, confirmed that the exchange was intended to include Navalny before his death.

Birthday present

The exchange comes in the final months of Biden’s term, years marked by a sharp rise in tensions between Moscow and Washington over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden announced last month that he was abandoning his bid for re-election.

A Slovenian court on Wednesday sentenced two Russians to prison for espionage and using fake IDs and said they would be deported. Both were among those returned to Russia, according to an official US list.

Also returned to Russia and released by the US were Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyusin – both convicted of cybercrimes – and Vadim Konossenok.

Wall Street Journal editor Emma Tucker published an open letter on Platform X, calling it a “happy day.”

“We are grateful to President Biden and his administration for working with tenacity and determination to bring Evan home instead of sending him to a Russian labor camp for a crime he did not commit,” he said.