The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been freed from Russian custody as part of a major exchange that also involved the freeing of several other foreign citizens held in Russia and numerous Russian political prisoners.
In the exchange, the largest such prisoner swap since the cold war and which took place at Ankara airport on Thursday afternoon, eight Russians held in the West returned to Russia. Among them was the Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov, who has been held in a German prison since 2019 for the murder of a Chechen exile in Berlin.
Additionally, deep-cover Russian “illegal” spies arrested in Norway and Slovenia were swapped, along with Russians held on criminal charges in US jails. Two minors were also returned to Russia, believed to be the children of the spies jailed in Slovenia.
Hazy video footage showed a Russian government plane landing at the airport in the Turkish capital before the swap. The Turkish presidency said in a statement that 10 prisoners were relocated to Russia, including two minors, while 13 prisoners left to Germany and three to the US.
Among those freed by Russia were Gershkovich; the former US marine Paul Whelan - who holds a passport for Ireland and three other countries; and the Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, the Turkish presidency said.
Whelan was born in Ottawa, Canada, to British parents of Irish origin. He later moved to Novi, Michigan in the US, and is a national of all four countries. He served with the US Marine Corps Reserve from 2003-2008, much of the time as an administrative clerk in Iraq.
US president Joe Biden called the deal a “feat of diplomacy” and said he “will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family”.
“Today, three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza,” said Mr Biden.
“The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy. All told, we’ve negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia—including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over.
“I am grateful to our Allies who stood with us throughout tough, complex negotiations to achieve this outcome— including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey. This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon. Our alliances make Americans safer.
“And let me be clear: I will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family. My Administration has now brought home over 70 such Americans, many of whom were in captivity since before I took office. Still, too many families are suffering and separated from their loved ones, and I have no higher priority as president than bringing those Americans home.”
A possible exchange involving Gershkovich had been mooted for months, with long discussions behind closed doors involving numerous governments, and few details seeping into the public domain. Until the final moment, the governments involved tried to keep the location and details of Thursday’s deal under wraps, fearful of last-minute hitches.
Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while reporting in the city of Ekaterinburg and was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage last month. He pleaded not guilty and the Wall Street Journal and the US government have dismissed the charges as nonsense.
Many observers have linked the initial Gershkovich arrest to a Russian policy that amounts to hostage-taking, with a view to increasing pressure on western countries to release Russian spies, hackers and assassins.
Putin has long made it clear that Krasikov was his No 1 target, which hampered US efforts to free its own prisoners, as Germany was reluctant to give up a prisoner serving time for murder to facilitate a US deal. Putin became “maniacal” about getting Krasikov back, according to one source with knowledge of Kremlin discussions. “It was a symbol that we don’t abandon our people,” said the source.
Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges in 2020. He has always maintained his innocence, and his family have been pushing for years to have him included in an exchange. Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was also freed.
Several Russian political prisoners were freed in the swap, including Yashin, one of Russia’s most prominent opposition leaders, who was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in late 2022 for denouncing Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British citizen and long-standing opposition voice, who was sentenced to 25 years for high treason, has also been released.
Rico Krieger, a German medic who had been sentenced to death in Belarus after a closed and murky trial on charges of terrorism, was released as part of the deal. Belarus is a staunch ally of Moscow and may have expedited the trial in order to provide another element of the deal. Details of Krieger’s case only became public recently, although he was arrested last year.
There was speculation that the contours of a swap deal had been agreed in February, which could have included Gershkovich and the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, with Krasikov going in the other direction, but the exchange was called off after Navalny’s sudden death – or murder – in prison.
In a June presidential debate, Donald Trump claimed he would instantly arrange for Gershkovich to be freed if he won the US election. “I will have him out very quickly, as soon as I take office, before I take office,” Trump said. - Guardian