US, Russia Conduct Prisoner Swap

The US and Russia conducted a major prisoner swap on Thursday that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan.

Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 on charges of espionage, which were rejected by the US government and the WSJ. In July, he was convicted to serve a 16-year prison sentence, which must have come as the US and Russia were quietly negotiating the prisoner swap.

Whelan was arrested in Moscow in 2018 when he was found with a USB in his pocket that contained classified information. He maintained his innocence and said the USB was planted on him, but was convicted on espionage charges and ordered to serve a 16-year sentence in 2020.

Two other US citizens were also released, along with five Germans, and seven Russian citizens who were held in their own country. In exchange, eight Russians who were in prison in the US, Germany, Slovenia, Norway, and Poland were released.

In comments on the swap at the White House, Biden said some of the Russians who were freed from Russia were connected to Alexei Navalny, an opposition figure who died earlier this year while serving a 19-year sentence at a penal colony in Siberia. Biden accused Putin of killing Navalny, but it was later revealed that US intelligence agencies didn’t believe that was the case, and Ukrainian intelligence said he likely died of a blood clot.

The exchange marks the second high-profile prisoner swap the US and Russia have conducted since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The previous deal freed WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Biden said the latest deal happened thanks to diplomacy with many US allies, but still rejected the idea of direct diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and said he wouldn’t speak with the Russian leader. The Biden administration has refused to engage with Russia at a high-level to ease tensions over Ukraine or work on arms control despite the high risk of nuclear war.