Reports of second US–Russia prisoner exchange confirmed by lawyer of jailed US citizen

The lawyer of Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-US dual citizen currently serving a 12-year prison sentence in Russia for donating €50 to Ukraine, has confirmed that the United States and Russia are currently negotiating a second major prisoner swap expected to take place in February.

“According to the information I have, Ksenia Karelina is on the list for the exchange, which will take place in February 2025,” Mikhail Mushailov told independent news outlet Ponyatno Media on Thursday, adding that he did not know who else was being lined up for exchange, and that any other details he had were classified.

Karelina was found guilty of treason for donating money to a charity supporting Ukraine in August, a little over two weeks after the largest ever prisoner swap between Russia and the West took place, in which 16 mainly political prisoners were released from Russian jails in exchange for eight Russian citizens serving prison sentences in the US, Germany, Norway and Slovenia.

The confirmation comes after pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Mash reported on Wednesday that a second US-Russia prisoner swap was planned for February, “a few weeks” after US president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

According to Mash, the Russian Foreign Ministry compiled a list of “70 people that the US government has accused of espionage and sanctions evasion”, while the US sought to exchange Karelina; US national Joseph Tater, who was imprisoned in Russia for assaulting a police officer; and US soldier Gordon Black, who was sentenced to three years in prison in June for theft and making death threats.

Also slated for exchange at the request of EU negotiators are several Russians who have been convicted of terror offences for acts of sabotage on the country’s railway network and jailed in Russia, Mash reported, adding that “most of them” were minors who would require parental consent before they could be taken to the EU.

Responding to the rumoured swap on Thursday, Russian sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for “justifying terrorism”, asked the Russian authorities not to exchange him, saying that he saw “no sense and no purpose” for himself in exile. However, as the Russian political prisoners exchanged in the August swap told a press conference shortly after their arrival in Germany, they were given no choice in the matter.