A significant prisoner swap between the United States and Russia was underway on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The individual, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter, did not disclose the identities of the prisoners involved. However, Americans such as Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, are among those the U.S. considers wrongfully detained in Russia.
Both Gershkovich and Whelan were convicted on espionage charges that the U.S. government has vehemently disputed as baseless. This potential exchange follows a series of high-profile swaps between Washington and Moscow in the past two years. Notably, in December 2022, WNBA star Brittney Griner was brought back to the U.S. in exchange for the notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout.
Among the prisoners Russia has sought in these negotiations is Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 for the murder of a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park, reportedly on orders from Moscow’s security services.
Speculation about a forthcoming swap has been rife due to a series of unusual developments, including the rapid trial and conviction of Gershkovich, which the U.S. labeled a sham. Gershkovich received a 16-year sentence in a maximum-security prison after his arrest on March 29, 2023, during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg. Authorities accused him, without evidence, of gathering secret information for the U.S.
Gershkovich, the son of Soviet emigres, moved to Russia in 2017 and worked for The Moscow Times before joining the Wall Street Journal in 2022. Throughout his pretrial hearings, which were held behind closed doors, Gershkovich often appeared in handcuffs, smiling for cameras despite his circumstances.
The U.S. had previously proposed a swap for Gershkovich, which Russia rejected. Since then, President Biden’s administration has kept potential deals under wraps. Both Gershkovich and Whelan have been designated as wrongfully detained by U.S. officials.
Whelan, detained in December 2018 during a trip to Russia for a wedding, was also convicted of espionage charges deemed false by both him and the U.S. He has been serving a 16-year sentence. Unlike Griner and Reed, Whelan was excluded from previous high-profile swaps, including the April 2022 exchange of Marine veteran Trevor Reed for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, and the December 2022 release of Griner in exchange for Viktor Bout.
The ongoing negotiations mark another significant chapter in the complex U.S.-Russia relations.
Credit: AP
