International

Prisoner exchange between Russia and the West: the American journalist Evan Gershkovich would have been released

Russia frees Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan as part of a major prisoner swap with the U.S., according to people familiar with the situation cited by Bloomberg.

The two, jailed in Russia on espionage charges that both they and the US deny, are said to be on their way to destinations outside of Russia.

As part of the swap deal, the US and its allies will return Russian detainees held abroad to Russia, Bloomberg's sources said. Other details regarding the exchange of prisoners are not known.

We remind you that the American journalist, Evan Gershkovich, was sentenced last month by a Russian court to 16 years in prison for espionage, after a secret trial described as "fake" by his employer.

Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in March 2023 while on a business trip.

He was later accused of trying to obtain information about an armaments factory, which produced tanks, and pass it on to the United States Central Intelligence Agency. He is the first American journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the end of the Cold War in 1991.

As for former Marine Paul Whelan, he was apprehended in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 also for espionage. He was the "oldest" American inmate in Russian prisons. Washington wanted to secure his release in 2022, when US authorities freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to secure the release of basketball player Brittney Griner, after the US basketball star was jailed in Russia for nine months for drug trafficking . However, Moscow did not agree to release Whelan either.

Despite the worst relations between Russia and the West since the Cold War, the exchange could be one of the biggest yet, says Frank Gardner, the BBC's security correspondent.

This would be one of the largest and most unusual prisoner exchanges in modern history. According to the BBC, it is extraordinary both the large number of prisoners involved - up to 24 - and the number of countries - the USA, Russia, Germany and three other European states.

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