The largest exchange since the Cold War

Turkey hosted the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries.

Moscow and Washington officially confirmed the exchange in the 8 by 16 format, which was held at the Ankara airport with the mediation of the Turkish intelligence. 13 prisoners were released by Putin:

– Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the American edition of The Wall Street Journal, convicted in the Russian Federation to 16 years in a high-security colony for espionage.

– Vladimir Kara-Murza, an opposition politician, sentenced to 25 years in prison in Russia for spreading “fake news” about the army and participating in activities of an “undesirable organization”.

– Politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to 8.5 years in a penal colony for “fakes” about the Russian army.

– Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was also sentenced to 6.5 years for “falsifying” information about the army.

– Oleg Orlov, a co-chairman of “Memorial”, received 2.5 years in prison for discrediting the Russian armed forces.

– Artist Sasha Skochilenko was sentenced to seven years for anti-war stickers in stores.

– Andrey Pivovarov, former executive director of the Open Russia movement, was convicted under an “undesirable organization” article and given a four-year prison sentence.

– Lilia Chanysheva, former head of Navalny’s headquarters in Ufa and Tomsk, was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison and Ksenia Fadeeva, also from the Navalny team, received a sentence of 9 years for working with the “extremist” ACF.

– Vadim Ostanin, former staff head in Barnaul, was sentenced in 2023 to 9 years after leading the Navalny campaign.

– Kevin Leake, an 19-year-old citizen of Germany and Russia, was the youngest person convicted of high treason.

– Paul Whelan, a US, British, Canadian, and Irish citizen, was sentenced to 16 years for espionage in June 2020.

– Demuri Voronin, a defendant in the Ivan Safronov case, was convicted of 13 years for espionage.

In addition, Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned a German citizen, Rico Krieger, who had been sentenced to death in Belarus. Of the 16 individuals transferred to the West, 14 were confirmed by name. Alexei Navalny is alleged to have been on this exchange list.

Eight citizens released from Western countries have returned to Russia:

– Roman Seleznev, kidnapped by American intelligence in the Maldives in 2014 and sentenced to 27 years in the US for cyber fraud involving losses of $170 million.

– Vadim Sokolov (Krasikov), sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for the murder of a Georgian citizen in December 2021.

– Vadim Konoshchek, extradited from Estonia to the US, accused of conspiring to circumvent sanctions and illegally purchasing goods for the Russian defense industry, as well as financial fraud.

– Mikhail Mikushin: In the fall of 2022, Mikhail Mikushin was detained in Norway and accused of illegal intelligence activities and data collection for the Russian government.

– Artyom and Anna Dultseva: Artyom and Anna were detained in December 2022 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on charges of espionage. They were sentenced to one year and seven months in prison.

– Vladislav Klyushin: Vladislav Klyushin, a Russian citizen, was extradited from Switzerland in December 2021 and is facing up to 50 years in prison on charges of insider stock trading.

– Pavel Rubtsov: Pavel Rubtsov, a journalist, was detained on espionage charges in Poland.

Two other individuals are minors.

In Moscow, the released prisoners were greeted with a guard of honor, a red carpet, and an appearance by Vladimir Putin, who promised to present them with state awards.

Three of the released prisoners have landed in the United States. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris welcomed Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and Alsa Kurmasheva at the airport in Washington. The other 13 prisoners landed at Cologne/Bonn airport and will be taken to a hospital, where they will remain for several days, according to reports from “Meduza” and “Rain”.

Ilya Yashin has already shared a photo of himself. “I will tell you everything soon.” he wrote. “In the meantime, thank you for all your concern. I hug all of you!” Maria Pevchikh also posted a photo with the newly freed artist Sasha Skochilenko.