Major Prisoner Exchange Conducted Today by the US, Germany, Slovenia, and the UK with Russia and Belarus

Today, Thursday, 1 August, a major prisoner exchange began between the United States, Germany, Slovenia and the United Kingdom on the one hand and Russia and Belarus on the other. The exchange involves 24 people, including three American prisoners, and Russian murderer Vadim Krasikov on the other side.

This was reported by CBS News, citing a source in the White House

US government sources have confirmed that American journalist Evan Hershkovich is being released as part of a major prisoner swap with Russia. The exchange also includes former US Marine Paul Whelan. The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains last March. In mid-July, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was the first American journalist to be arrested and charged with espionage by Russia since the end of the Cold War. The list also includes two former employees of Alexei Navalny, Lilia Tianysheva and Ksenia Fadeeva.  Kurmasheva, who holds dual US and Russian citizenship, was detained in Russia in June 2023 on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army. 

Among the Russian citizens to be exchanged is Vadim Krasikov, an assassin serving a life sentence in Germany for the murder of a Chechen field commander ordered by the Russian federal authorities.

The exchange was coordinated by a number of US government agencies, including the White House, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, CBS News reported.

In the morning, a plane from Moscow landed in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad - the same plane that brought formerly imprisoned basketball player Brittney Griner during her 2022 exchange.