US and Russia conduct largest ever prisoner swap

Journalist Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan and a number of other Americans are expected to be released as part of a large-scale prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia, according to sources cited by several US media outlets. According to some announcements, the journalist of Radio Evropa e Lire Alsu Kurmasheva is among those released.

The American freedmen are expected to be handed over to the United States soon, according to a senior administration official.

The Associated Press reports that a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been made public, declined to name the people involved in the deal.

But among the Americans the United States considers wrongfully detained by Russia are Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal and Paul Whelan, an executive at a Michigan security firm.

Turkey, which said it was coordinating the exchange, said Gershkovich and Whelan were among those released.

Both were convicted of espionage charges that the US government has deemed unfounded. The last exchange between Washington and Moscow in the past two years was in December 2022 when American basketball player Brittney Griner was released in exchange for notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

The Turkish presidency said 26 prisoners from seven countries are involved in the prisoner exchange.

According to her, ten prisoners, including two minors, were sent to Russia, 13 prisoners to Germany and three prisoners to the United States.

Rumors of a possible exchange had been swirling for weeks, due to several unusual developments, including an expedited trial and 16-year prison sentence for journalist Gershkovich, who was convicted by Washington.

Meanwhile, in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or collaborating with Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has now died, were moved from prison to unknown locations.

Gershkovich was arrested on March 29, 2023, while on a business trip to the city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.

Russian authorities claimed, without providing any evidence, that he was collecting classified information for the US.

US officials made an offer to exchange Mr Gershkovich last year, which was rejected by Russia, and since then President Joe Biden's administration has not made any possible deal public.

Whelan was arrested in December 2018 after traveling to Russia to attend a wedding. He was convicted on espionage charges, which he and Washington have dismissed as false. He too was serving a 16-year prison sentence.