Jailed US Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were part of a significant prisoner exchange involving 26 individuals from the United States, Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Belarus on Thursday, according to Turkey's presidency.
The exchange saw 10 prisoners, including two minors, transferred to Russia, 13 to Germany, and three to the United States. Turkish intelligence had previously indicated coordination of a broad prisoner swap, with indications of a substantial exchange between Russia and Belarus and Western countries including the United States and Germany.
The National Intelligence Agency (MIT) highlighted its significant mediation role in this extensive operation, describing it as the most comprehensive in recent times. Both the Kremlin and the White House refrained from commenting on the potential exchange.
A special Russian government plane, previously used in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia, was tracked flying from Moscow to Kaliningrad and back. Reuters footage captured a Russian government plane on the ground in Ankara.
Paul Whelan and Russian-British dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, both incarcerated in Russia, had vanished from public view recently, according to their lawyers. At least seven Russian dissidents were unexpectedly relocated from their prisons.
A lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian held in the U.S., declined to confirm his client's whereabouts to RIA news agency until the exchange occurred. RIA also reported that four Russians jailed in the U.S. had disappeared from the Federal Bureau of Prisons' database.
Dissidents in Russia, including opposition politician Ilya Yashin and human rights activist Oleg Orlov, have reportedly been moved suddenly in recent days. These individuals are viewed in the West as wrongfully detained political prisoners, designated by Moscow as dangerous extremists.
Among those Moscow seeks is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving life in Germany for murder. Meanwhile, a Slovenian court sentenced two Russians to time served for espionage and fake identities, with plans for their deportation, which a Slovenian TV channel linked to the broader exchange.
