The United States and Russia have completed the largest prisoner swap in post-Cold War history with the exchange of 24 prisoners
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan were part of a multinational deal that saw the release of a Russian contract killer as well.
Gershkovich had been imprisoned since March 2023, while Whelan had been in prison since 2018.
The Russians got Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel two years earlier. He was an assassin who was implicated in many other killings as well. They also received two sleeper agents who had been captured by Slovenian intelligence.
Seven nations in all were involved in the swap.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will join the families of the released Americans for a photo-op on Thursday evening at Andrews Air Force Base. Biden criticized Donald Trump for his oft-repeated statement that he could get the prisoners released where Biden could not.
When asked about Trump’s claim, Biden retorted, “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”
Most of the released prisoners were jailed during Biden's presidency.
There were a number of Putin critics released as well, including Alsu Kurmasheva.
Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested in 2023 in her hometown of Kazan, where she was visiting her ailing mother. The Prague-based editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service was accused of not self-reporting as a “foreign agent” and was convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military — charges rejected by her family and employer. Kurmasheva, 47, was sentenced to 6½ years in prison.
Other activists released include:
Ilya Yashin is a prominent Kremlin critic who was serving an 8 1/2-year sentence for criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine. Yashin, a former member of a Moscow municipal council, was one of the few well-known opposition activists to stay in Russia since the war.
Andrei PivovarovV, 42, headed the opposition group Open Russia, outlawed in 2021. He was pulled off a flight and arrested that same year. In 2022, he was convicted of carrying out activities of an “undesirable” organization and sentenced to four years in prison.
Oleg Orlov, a veteran human rights campaigner, was convicted of discrediting the Russian military and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in February for his protests of the war in Ukraine. Orlov, 71, is co-chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial.
The release of one of Putin's hit men, Vadim Krasikov, was probably unavoidable given the importance that Putin put on his freedom.
Krasikov murdered Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya. He was given asylum in Germany. As a hitman for the FSB, he likely undertook other assassinations of Putin critics abroad and at home.
It's a good thing that Whelan and Gershkovich have been released. That Putin feels he can snatch them off the streets with impunity doesn't speak well of Joe Biden's administration.
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