Prisoner Swap Between US and Russia: Political Prisoners and Russian Killers and Spies - Nearly Two Years of Negotiations
Efforts to bring home The Wall Street Journal reporter and other prisoners from Russia spanned three continents. Spy agencies, billionaires, political figures, and the journalist's fiercest advocate—his mother—were involved.
This landmark prisoner exchange brought home journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, as well as released 14 other Russian captives. The negotiations lasted over two years and involved secrecy and complex diplomacy with Germany, Russia, and the US, each with different interests.
The exchange process took place in Ankara, Turkey, and involved 26 prisoners from seven countries. It was the culmination of months of meticulous diplomacy, also involving Germany, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, according to security officials in several countries. Turkish officials stated that Belarus was also involved.
Germany received 12 prisoners held in Russia. According to many reports, these included:
- Dieter Voronin, a Russian-German citizen and political scientist detained in 2021.
- Kevin Leek, who was born in Germany but moved to Russia, arrested in 2023 at age 16 for photographing Russian military.
- Rico Krieger, a German sentenced to death in Belarus on terrorism charges. He was accused of planting explosives near a railway in support of Ukraine and confessed on a choreographed video.
- Patrick Schobel, a German accused of transporting cannabis sweets to Russia, detained in February.
- Herman Mojzes, a Russian-German lawyer accused of helping Russian citizens obtain EU visas.
- Ilya Yashin, a prominent ally of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He was sentenced to over eight years in prison in 2022 for spreading fake news.
- Lilia Chanysheva, a Russian opposition figure and Navalny ally, arrested in 2021.
- Ksenia Fadeyeva, another Russian opposition figure and Navalny ally, arrested in 2021.
- Vadim Ostanin, an opposition figure and Navalny ally arrested in 2021.
- Andrei Pivovarov, a human rights activist who founded the disbanded movement "Open Russia" and was sentenced to four years in prison in 2022 for leading an "undesirable organisation."
- Oleg Orlov, a human rights defender sentenced to over two years in prison in February.
- Sasha Skochilenko, a Russian anti-war activist and artist, arrested in April 2022.
Russia received eight prisoners held abroad:
- Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin held in Germany after being convicted of killing a former Chechen separatist commander in Berlin in 2019. Krasikov was a high-ranking officer in the Russian FSB's Vympel special unit.
- Artem Dulcev and Anna Dulceva, held in Slovenia on espionage charges. Both were connected to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service and pleaded guilty on Wednesday.
- Mikhail Mikushin, arrested in 2022 in Norway on espionage charges and accused of spying for Russia.
- Pavel Rubtsov, detained in Poland in 2022 and accused of spying for Russia and serving as a military intelligence agent under journalistic cover.
- Roman Seleznev, a Russian hacker and credit card fraudster, sentenced to 27 years in prison in the US after being detained in 2014.
- Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin, sentenced to nine years in prison in the US in 2023 for a hacking scheme.
- Vadim Konoshchenko, detained in Estonia in 2022 and charged in 2023 with smuggling US technologies and equipment to the Russian military and government.