US and allies exchange prisoners with Russia

In the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, the United States and several allied countries exchanged 24 prisoners with Russia, including American journalist Evan Gershkovich and Spanish-Russian Pablo González, at Ankara airport under the coordination of the Turkish secret services.

According to the White House and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Moscow released 16 people: three US citizens and one person with legal residence in the United States, as well as five Germans and seven Russians, while the United States and its allies released another eight people who were transferred to Russia, along with two minors, bringing the total number of those released to 24.

Turkish channel NTV said the prisoners were brought to the Turkish capital from seven countries: the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia, before ten of them – including two minors – travelled to Russia after the exchange, which was coordinated by the Turkish secret services (MIT).

Among those exchanged are American journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal; Spanish-Russian journalist Pablo González, arrested in Poland; American soldier Paul Whelan; German Rico Krieger, sentenced to death in Belarus; Russian opposition figure Ilya Yashin; and Vadim Krasikov, an FSB (formerly KGB) officer imprisoned in Germany for the murder of a Chechen dissident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly suggested in recent months the possibility of exchanging Krasikov for a prisoner in Russian jails.

The United States confirmed that negotiations initially included the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but he died in a Russian prison last February.

US President Joe Biden has described the prisoner swap as a “diplomatic feat”, in which the US administration had placed the release of Whelan and Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal correspondent in Russia, at the centre of negotiations.

“Some of these women and men have been unjustly detained for years. They have all endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” she said.

The Federal Security Service also confirmed the release of eight Russians imprisoned in Western countries in exchange for 16 Russians and foreigners serving sentences in Western prisons, stressing that the prisoners handed over by Moscow were working “in the interests of foreign states and to the detriment of the security of the Russian Federation.”

The FSB added that the exchange of prisoners was successful thanks to the “systematic and determined” work of the competent Russian and foreign bodies.