One of the largest prisoner swap deals between the US and West and Russia since the Cold War days was conducted in Turkey on Thursday, the Turkish presidency said. At least 26 prisoners were released in a swap deal between Russia and several western countries.
A Turkish statement said prisoners from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Belarus and Russia were involved in the swap “carried out” by Turkey’s MIT intelligence service.
“A (prisoner) exchange operation took place today under the coordination of our organisation,” MIT said in a statement. “Our organization has undertaken a major mediation role in this exchange operation, which is the most comprehensive of the recent period.”
Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich was released just weeks after being sentenced by a Russian court to a 16-year jail term for espionage along with former US marine Paul Whelan who was also held in Russia on similar charges. The other American who was released was Alsu Kurmasheva.
All three of them called their families shortly after their release and joined a conference call where they spoke to US President Joe Biden.
‘End Of Agony’
US President Joe Biden called the deal “a feat of diplomacy”.
“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” Biden added in a statement.
Biden made two calls, one to Americans Gershkovich, Kurmasheva and Whelan and the other to Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-UK citizen.
Biden also praised the US allies who took part in a massive East-West prisoner swap, saying they made “bold and brave decisions” to release people back to Russia.
Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey “stood with us,” Biden said. “They made bold and brave decisions, released prisoners being held in their countries who were justifiably being held, and provided the logistical support to get the Americans home.”
The Swap
The Turkish presidency said that 10 prisoners, including two minors, had been moved to Russia. It said 13 prisoners were moved to Germany and three to the US.
“Our organisation has undertaken a major mediation role in this exchange operation, which is the most comprehensive of the recent period,” the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) said in a statement.
Flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed that a special Russian government plane used for a previous prisoner swap involving the United States and Russia had flown from Moscow to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and Lithuania, before heading back to the Russian capital.
Reuters footage showed a Russian government plane on the ground in the Turkish capital Ankara.
The Turkish government has released some details on the execution of the swap that took place at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport. They said that after arriving in Turkey the individuals involved were removed from their aircraft under the supervision of agents of the MIT, and moved to “secure areas.”
Following the approval of the exchange by the countries involved in the swap deal, the hostages received health checks and had their other needs addressed.
They were then escorted onto the aircraft that would take them to their respective destinations.
The planes were then given clearance to depart following authorization from MIT.
Putin Pardons Gershkovich, Whelan, Dissidents
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday officially pardoned US reporter Evan Gershkovich, ex-marine Paul Whelan and almost a dozen Russian activists and dissidents as part of a major prisoner exchange with the West.
The Kremlin also said it was “grateful to the leaders of all countries who assisted in preparing the exchange,” without naming any, in a statement on its website.
Russia’s FSB security service also confirmed on Thursday that eight of its citizens imprisoned abroad were freed as part of a major prisoner swap with the West, Russian state media reported.
“Eight Russian citizens who were detained and imprisoned in a series of NATO countries, were returned home,” state-run news agencies quoted the FSB as saying in a statement. It added: “The Russians were exchanged for a group of people who were acting in the interests of foreign states to the detriment of the security of the Russian Federation.”
Who Are The Russians Who Have Been Freed
A lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian held in the United States, declined on Wednesday to confirm the whereabouts of his client to the state-run RIA news agency “until the exchange takes place”.
RIA had also reported that four Russians jailed in the United States had disappeared from a database of prisoners operated by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons.
It named them as Vinnik, Maxim Marchenko, Vadim Konoshchenok and Vladislav Klyushin.
Dissidents inside Russia – whose supporters say they have been told that they have been suddenly moved in recent days – include opposition politician Ilya Yashin, human rights activist Oleg Orlov and Daniil Krinari, convicted of secretly cooperating with foreign governments.
In the West, the dissidents are seen by governments and activists as wrongfully detained political prisoners.
All have, for different reasons, been designated by Moscow as dangerous extremists.
Among those Moscow has signalled it wants is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving life in Germany for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.
A Slovenian court on Wednesday sentenced two Russians to time served for espionage and using fake identities, and said they would be deported, the state news agency STA reported, a move a Slovenian TV channel said was part of the wider exchange.
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