Russia and West exchange prisoners: details

Fox News reported the information.

Fox News host Trace Gallagher revealed that Russia is allegedly planning to release journalist Gershkovich from prison.

According to the TV channel, Gershkovich is due to return to the United States tomorrow.

Later, on August 1, Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that Russia had released Gershkovich.

The outlet noted that the United States and allies would also return prisoners to Russia.

Some opposition figures, including those who oppose the war in Ukraine, have disappeared from Russian prisons. Human rights activists suggest a possible exchange with the West.

Later, media reported that a large-scale prisoner exchange was taking place between the West and Russia. The lists include 24 people. This was reported by CBS News, citing sources in the White House. 

In addition to Gershkovich, the exchange list includes marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva of the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Liberty. 

According to The Insider, the Russian side also released:

• opposition politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza
• Lilia Chanysheva, former head of the headquarters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Ufa
• Russian oppositionist Ilya Yashin 
• Ksenia Fadeeva, former head of the headquarters of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Tomsk
• human rights activist Oleg Orlov
• artist Sasha Skochilenko
• politician Andrey Pivovarov
• former head of the headquarters of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Barnaul, Vadim Ostanin
• former German Red Cross worker and doctor Rico Krieger
• lawyer, citizen of the Russian Federation and Germany German Moyzhes
• the first schoolboy convicted of treason, Kevin Lik
• political scientist, citizen of the Russian Federation and Germany Dieter Voronin
• German citizen Patrick Schebel

Instead, the following will be returned to Russia: 

• Vadim Krasikov (from Germany), a hired killer who served in the Vympel unit of the FSB Central Intelligence Service
• the spouses Artem and Anna Dultsevy, who lived in Slovenia, posing as Argentine citizens (from Slovenia)
• spy Mikhail Mikushin (from Norway)
• Russian intelligence agent Pavel Rubtsov (from Poland)
• hacker Roman Seleznev (from the United States)
• businessman Vladislav Klyushin (from the USA)
• Vadim Konoshchenko, a member of the Sernia smuggling network (from the USA)

NTV reported that the exchange took place in Ankara. The US and Russian planes landed at Esenboga International Airport. The exchange is coordinated by Turkish intelligence. 

Subsequently, the BBC, citing the Turkish presidential administration, confirmed the exchange of 26 people, including citizens of the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus. 

"Ten people, including two minors, were transferred to Russia, 13 prisoners to Germany, and three to the United States," the report said. 

The Russian opposition claims that Alexei Navalny was to be released as part of the exchange. This was reported by Russian opposition politician Leonid Volkov. 

"Yes, this is the same exchange that we hoped would have seen the release of Alexei Navalny in February this year," he wrote.

Detention of American journalist Gershkovich

At the end of March 2023, the Russian FSB detained the Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg (Ural, Russia), who was to write about Russians' attitudes to the war in Ukraine and the recruitment of locals to the Wagner PMC. He was arrested in an espionage case.

The next day, US President Joe Biden commented on Gershkovich's detention and espionage charges and called on the Russian authorities to release the journalist.

It is also reported that the journalist Evan Gershkovich, detained in Yekaterinburg, was previously under surveillance by Russian special services.

Subsequently, Russian FSB investigators formally charged him with espionage. The journalist denied the charges.

In September 2023, Russia offered to exchange the journalist and another American for FSB killer Krasikov, who was imprisoned for the murder of a Chechen commander.

On January 26, a court in Moscow ruled to extend the detention of reporter Gershkovich for two months.

On March 26, a Moscow court decided to keep Gershkovich in prison until June 30. 

On 19 July, a court in Yekaterinburg announced Gershkovich's conviction in the espionage case: he was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security prison.