Russia freed American citizens Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan in what could possibly be the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War, news outlet Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
A total of 26 people, including two minors, from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Belarus and Russia were involved in the swap “carried out” by Turkey’s MIT intelligence service, Turkey’s presidency said. The swap took place in Turkey.
Former US Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich have been imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges, which both of them and the US deny.
Russia had alleged that the 32-year-old journalist, who was sentenced to 16 years in Russian prison earlier this month, was “gathering secret information” at the CIA’s behest about a facility that produces and repairs military equipment and detained him in March 2023 in the city of Yekaterinburg. It provided no evidence to support the accusations.
Whelan, the 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan, was arrested in 2018 in Moscow, where he was attending a friend’s wedding, convicted two years later of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Whelan worked in security for a US vehicle parts company when he was arrested in Moscow and has always asserted that the evidence against him was falsified.
When the Kremlin was asked about reports that Russia and the West could be gearing up for a major prisoner swap since the Cold War, they remained tight-lipped.
Several prisoners in Russian and Western countries have reportedly been moved from their cells in recent days, fuelling speculation of an imminent exchange.
Earlier today, a report by AFP named US reporter Evan Gershkovich to be part of the deal.
Several others held in Russia’s penal system including opposition figures Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin have also reportedly been moved, possibly in advance of a deal.
Prison transfers are notoriously murky in Russia, where family are not warned in advance and prisoners often lose contact with their lawyers and the outside world for weeks.
As a rule, swaps can happen only after a conviction, and the disappearance of several high-profile political prisoners at once is extremely rare.
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