Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan freed in Russia prisoner swap : NPR

In one of the largest prisoner swaps between the United States, its allies and Russia since the end of the Cold War, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan are among more than a dozen prisoners released by Russia in exchange for Russian prisoners held by the United States and countries throughout Europe, U.S. officials said Thursday.

In all, under the deal, 16 political prisoners, journalists and others, including five Germans, are being exchanged for eight Russians jailed in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland. Among the Russians is Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian state assassin in German custody, as well as three other Russians in U.S. custody.

President Biden said the hostage swap deal was “a feat of diplomacy” and thanked allies who worked with the United States on the deal. “This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend on,” he said in a statement.

“Not since the Cold War has there been a similar number of individuals exchanged in this way,” said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, adding the exchange was the “culmination of many rounds of complex painstaking negotiations over many, many months.”

Those returning to the U.S. from Russia include Gershkovich, Whelan, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe, and Russian journalist and dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, a U.S. permanent resident.

The Turkish government said in a statement that it had played a key role and “conducted the most extensive prisoner exchange operation of recent times in Ankara,” involving not only Whelan and Gershkovich, but also Rico Krieger, whom it identified as a German mercenary imprisoned in Belarus; Russian dissident Ilya Yashin; and Vadim Krasikov, whom it identified as a colonel in the FSB, Russia’s internal security service.

The statement said the operation was conducted by MIT, the Turkish intelligence service.

Gershkovich was arrested in Moscow in March 2023 and became the first U.S. journalist since the Cold War to be charged with espionage. Last month, a Russian court sentenced him to 16 years in prison, after he was accused by the Russian prosecutor of working with the CIA to collect information on a Russian arms company. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government strenuously denied the allegations, and the U.S. considered Gershkovich wrongfully detained.

Whelan, a Marine Corps veteran who holds U.S., British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was arrested in Russia in December 2018 on charges of espionage he strongly denies. On June 15, 2020, a Moscow court sentenced Whelan to 16 years in prison.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.