Russia has agreed to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in a prisoner swap, according to multiple reports.Bloomberg was the first to report news of the swap, calling it a “multi-country prisoner swap.” Further details regarding the swap were not immediately available. A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg convicted Gershkovich of espionage last month and sentenced him to 16 years in prison in a case that the U.S. called politically motivated.In 2020, Whelan was also convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison.Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously said that when it comes to Gershkovich, Whelan and other Americans wrongfully detained in Russia and elsewhere, the U.S. is working on the cases “quite literally every day.”Russia has long been interested in getting back Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services.Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich that Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Russia has agreed to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in a prisoner swap, according to multiple reports.
Bloomberg was the first to report news of the swap, calling it a “multi-country prisoner swap.” Further details regarding the swap were not immediately available.
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A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg convicted Gershkovich of espionage last month and sentenced him to 16 years in prison in a case that the U.S. called politically motivated.
In 2020, Whelan was also convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously said that when it comes to Gershkovich, Whelan and other Americans wrongfully detained in Russia and elsewhere, the U.S. is working on the cases “quite literally every day.”
Russia has long been interested in getting back Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services.
Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich that Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.
Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
