Major US-Russia prisoner exchange nears completion

A major prisoner exchange between the US and Russia is currently underway.

This swap is expected to include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan, and several other Americans, Caliber.Az reports citing the foreign media.

The agreement has been reached, and the transfer of prisoners is anticipated to be completed by August 1. Under the deal, the detainees are set to be transferred into the custody of US officials.

This exchange marks the end of a prolonged ordeal for Whelan, who has been detained for over five years, and Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned for more than a year. Both individuals have been labeled as wrongfully detained by the US State Department.

The agreement follows months of intricate and discreet negotiations between Moscow and Washington, during which US diplomats explored various strategies to persuade Russia to release the Americans.

Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while reporting in Yekaterinburg. On July 19, he was convicted of espionage by a Russian court and sentenced to 16 years in prison. The trial has been widely criticized by the US government, his newspaper, and his supporters as a farce.

Paul Whelan, a US, Irish, British, and Canadian citizen, was detained in December 2018 at a Moscow hotel. Russian authorities accused him of involvement in an intelligence operation, leading to a 16-year prison sentence on espionage charges, which he strongly denies. Whelan has been serving his sentence in a labor camp in Mordovia, about an eight-hour drive from Moscow. In a June 2021 interview, he described working in a clothing factory he termed a “sweatshop.”

Whelan’s wait has been particularly prolonged, as he was excluded from previous prisoner exchanges. He was not included in the two major swaps of 2022: in April, former US Marine Trevor Reed was exchanged for Russian drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko, and in December, WNBA star Brittney Griner was swapped for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.