Russia frees US reporter in major prisoner swap with West: Turkey

ANKARA: US journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan were released Thursday, the Turkish government announced, in one of the biggest East-West prisoner swaps since the Cold War.

Prisoners 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.

There was no immediate confirmation from US officials, although the swap was widely reported by US television networks. The Kremlin declined to comment on any exchange.

Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, 32, was detained in March 2023 and convicted in July on spying charges in a fast-track trial denounced as a sham by the United States.

Signs of an imminent prisoner swap had picked up momentum earlier Thursday, amid reports a plane used in a previous exchange deal had landed in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Hopes had also risen in recent days after a number of high-profile prisoners in Russia, including Whelan, went missing from prisons where they were serving long terms, fueling speculation they were being moved ahead of a swap.

As a rule, swaps can only happen after a conviction in Russia, and the disappearance of several high-profile political prisoners at once is extremely rare.

Among those expected to be returned to Russia in exchange is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian citizen imprisoned in Germany for killing a former Chechen rebel commander in a brazen assassination.

The exchange would be a victory for President Joe Biden, whose vice president, Kamala Harris, faces Republican Donald Trump in the November election.

This would be the first prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since star US basketball player Brittney Griner was swapped in return for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December 2022.

It would also be the biggest exchange since 2010, when 14 alleged spies were exchanged between Russia and the West.