Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U. S. Marine Paul Whelan, who were each sentenced to 16 years in criminal prison in Russia on widely trumped-up espionage charges, were released Thursday in a criminal exchange in which the United States and several other countries released the detainee.
Gershkovich, Whelan and Russian dissident Ilya Yashin were allegedly part of a cohort of prisoners released after the swap, which took place in Turkey and included 24 adults imprisoned in seven other countries in addition to Russia.
It was previously reported that Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva could be among those to be released via Moscow, but it is unclear whether or not she has been released.
Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian murderer, is reportedly about to be released from Germany; It’s not yet clear who else is involved.
U. S. officials have long said they are committed to a deal to release Americans detained in Russia, and national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last month that the deal is considered “one of the most important points until the end of the year. ” “.
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Paul Whelan is in a cage awaiting a hearing in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, August 23, 2019.
Gershkovich, 32, has been detained for 571 days. The journalist, the Soviet-born son of parents born in the Soviet Union, was working for the Wall Street Journal in Yekaterinburg, Russia, when he was arrested on espionage charges in March 2023. His arrest was the first time an American journalist had been arrested. Accused of espionage in Russia since the Cold War, and Gershkovich was found guilty in a quick and personal trial. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Gershkovich’s sister and parents, who live in Philadelphia, have been strong advocates for his release. The Journal described his conviction as “shameful” and “a farce. “The United States State Department almost without delay designated him as wrongfully detained and called for his release. . The United States ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said: “He is being punished because he is a journalist and he is an American. It’s as undeniable as that. ” The arrest came against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has severed relations between the United States and Russia.
Whelan, a former Marine, has been in custody for 2,043 days, since his arrest in December 2018 while traveling to Russia for a friend’s wedding. Russia’s Foreign Minister claims Whelan was “caught red-handed” engaging in espionage. A Russian news company reportedly claimed that a Russian national gave it a USB drive containing classified data while he was in a Moscow hotel (his lawyer said he was not aware of any classified data). the data would be on disk). Shortly after, he was arrested, accused of espionage and, in June 2020, sentenced to 16 years in prison. The US government has also denied that he worked as a spy, and experts say his lack of diplomatic standing makes it highly unlikely that he is a spy. Whelan was excluded from past prisoner exchanges with the United States and Russia. Whelan, a self-described Russophile, was interested in the county’s culture and had visited it several times before his arrest. Whelan’s family strongly defended his release and denied accusations of espionage. Whelan has American, Canadian, British and Irish citizenship, but was traveling on his American passport when he was arrested.
Kurmasheva, editor and presenter of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, arrested in Russia while visiting family in June 2023, start of 426-day sentence. She was visiting her elderly mother and getting her passports (American and Russian). They were confiscated after she did not sign the US document, according to the Washington Post. Her family has asked the United States for help, and Biden discussed this in a speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April.
U. S. officials have accused the Russian government of employing U. S. citizens as bargaining chips, arresting them when imaginable so that prisoner swaps, such as Whelan and Gershkovich’s, will ultimately free Russian citizens from the West. Russia insists that all those arrested have broken the law. The total number of Americans detained in Russia is unclear, but among the most well-known detainees are Whelan, Gershkovich, musician Travis Leake, instructor Mark Fogel and Army Sgt. Maj. Gordon Black.
Prisoner exchanges between the United States and Russia are not uncommon. Trevor Reed, a former Marine arrested for violence against a police officer in Russia, sent back to the United States in 2022 in exchange for convicted Russian drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko. American basketball player Brittney Griner, arrested for possession of hashish upon entering the country, was traded for Russian arms broker Viktor Bout that same year.
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