Evan Gershkovich (L), Paul Whelan (centre R) and Alsu Kurmasheva (R) aboard a flight to the United States, 1 August 2024. Photo: US Government The Kremlin confirmed on Thursday that Vladimir Putin had signed presidential pardons for 13 of the 16 individuals exchanged by Russia in the largest prisoner swap with the West to have taken place since the end of the Cold War.

Killer Krasikov, spies and hackers - we tell what European and American authorities accused them The Russian aircraft Tu-204-300 is preparing to land at the airport at Ankara, August 1, 2024. Photo: AFP / Scanpix / Leta Today, the largest exchange of prisoners between Russia and Western countries took place. Its participants immediately became 26 people. The Russian side transferred 16 people - this group included US citizens, dual citizenship persons and Russians.

People attend a memorial service for late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny in Berlin, 4 June 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE / HANNIBAL HANSCHKE Late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was originally supposed to be among the political prisoners freed by Russia in a deal brokered with the United States and several European countries earlier this year, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed on Thursday.

US President Joe Biden hails Thursday’s prisoner swap with Russia, surrounded by the family members of several of the freed prisoners at the White House, 1 August 2024.

Countries liberated more than 20 people In Turkey and Germany, the exchange of prisoners between Russia, Germany, the USA and several other countries - the first such scale since 2010. Within its framework, according to various sources, 24 or 26 people can exchange. The main thing is in the material of the Novaya Gazeta Europe.

Georgian and US servicemen during joint military exercises at the Vaziani military base, near Tbilisi, Georgia, 30 July 2017. Photo: EPA / ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE Georgian and US servicemen during joint military exercises at the Vaziani military base, near Tbilisi, Georgia, 30 July 2017.

Photo: Obozrevatel.ua Ilya Ponomaryov, a former member of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, and the sole member of the chamber to oppose the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, was injured in a drone strike on his home in exile in Kyiv, Ukrainian media outlet Obozrevatel reported on Thursday. According to the Ukrainian police, an overnight Russian military attack on the Kyiv region resulted in damage to two private residences, injuring Ponomaryov and a married couple.

Why Putin decided to give the political prisoners to the West The An-148 aircraft with Viktor Buto on board, exchanged for the American basketball player Britney Griner during the exchange of prisoners, is landing at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, December 8, 2022. Photo: Tatyana Makeeva / Reuters / Scanpix / Leta Russia and the United States made a grandiose exchange of political prisoners.

Screenshot: Gagauznews Screenshot: Gagauznews An official working in the Parliament of Moldova and a border police officer have been detained on suspicion of treason and conspiracy, Moldova’s Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases announced on Wednesday.

The Prosecutor General's Office has declared the activities of the charitable foundation for helping convicts and their families "Rus' sidyashchaya" (the German legal entity of the foundation Russland hinter gittern) "undesirable" on the territory of the Russian Federation. This was reported on the agency's website.

WSJ Moscow correspondent Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan were among the prisoners released by Russia on Thursday. Photo: EPA / Yuri Kochetkov Following months of secretive negotiations between Russia and the West and after days of uncertainty and growing speculation, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, both of whom were serving long prison sentences in Russia for espionage, were freed in an exchange on Thursday, Bloomberg has reported .

Ukraine received the first F-16 Photo: IPA / Sipa / Scanpix / Leta Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, reports that the first batch of American F-16 fighters has already arrived in Ukraine. The exact number of aircraft received by Ukraine is still unknown. The sources of the agency announced the "small" number of aircraft provided. According to journalists, the deadline for the supply of aircraft established at the end of July of the current year was observed.

In Nizhny Tagil, a gas explosion occurred in a five-story residential building on Sibirskaya Street, E1.ru reports . According to the publication, the emergency occurred at about 12:00 (10:00 Moscow time) in the Dzerzhinsky district of Nizhny Tagil. During the rescue operation, a second collapse occurred - several concrete slabs fell, TASS writes with reference to emergency services. In total, two entrances of the building collapsed.

Remember the most loud cases Nadezhda Savchenko communicates with media representatives near Yulia Tymoshenko at the Borispol International Airport near Kiev, Ukraine, May 25, 2016. Photo: Gleb Garanich / Reuters / Scanpix / Leta The last few days, everyone has been expected to exchange prisoners between Russia and the USA, as well as, possibly, between Germany and Belarus. This will be the first so large -scale operation in recent years.

Evan Gershkovich in court. Photo: SotaVision By far the biggest post-Cold War prisoner exchange between Russia and the West is expected to take place on Thursday, with all signs suggesting that the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and the Turkish capital Ankara are the two principal locations where the expected swap of dozens of high-profile political prisoners will take place.