Americans Gershkovich and Whelan are part of a large prisoner exchange between Russia and the West

In the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War, twenty-six detainees from the United States, Russia, and several of its allies were released on Thursday, including imprisoned Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

The complicated deal with Russia and other nations was arranged, according to the White House. It stated that eight detainees detained in the West would be returning to Russia.

Germany declared that Vadim Krasikov, who was found guilty of killing a dissident in exile in Berlin, was among them.

Ten inmates, including two kids, had been transferred to Russia, thirteen to Germany, and three to the United States, according to Turkey, which oversaw the exchange. The trade also included Belarus, Slovenia, Poland, and Norway.

The National Intelligence Agency (MIT) released a statement saying, “After the completion of the ratification procedures of the parties, the health checks… the prisoners were placed on the planes of the countries to which they would be traveling with the approval and instructions of the MIT.”

It declared that the aircraft’s return had been approved.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, was cited by the state news agency TASS as saying that, in theory, “all our enemies should stay there (abroad), and all those who are not our enemies should return” without explicitly supporting a swap.

In 2010’s final significant exchange, 14 inmates were swapped.

In December 2022, Russia exchanged arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States, for American basketball player Brittney Griner, who had been condemned to nine years for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.

Colonel Krasikov, a member of the Russian FSB security force, was incarcerated in Germany for life after killing a Chechen-Georgian dissident in exile while he was at a park there. President Vladimir Putin had made it clear that he desired his return.

President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, pardoned German Rico Krieger on Tuesday. Krieger had been sentenced to death in Belarus on terrorism-related charges. Along with Russian opposition lawmaker Ilya Yashin, he was also released, according to Turkey.

The Russian dissidents had vanished from sight.

Ankara, the capital of Turkey, was the scene of a Russian government aircraft being seen on the ground by Reuters.

According to their attorneys, Whelan and Russian-British dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, who are both detained in Russia, had vanished from the public eye in recent days. It was an unexpected removal of at least seven Russian dissidents from prison.

The Russian national Alexander Vinnik is being held in the United States. On Wednesday, his attorney declined to provide the state-run RIA news agency with an update on his client’s location “until the exchange takes place”.

Additionally, RIA had revealed that four Russian inmates in the United States had vanished from a Federal Bureau of Prisons database. Vinnik, Maxim Marchenko, Vadim Konoshchenok, and Vladislav Klyushin were identified.

Russian dissidents Daniil Krinari, who was found guilty of surreptitiously collaborating with foreign governments, and human rights activist Oleg Orlov are among others whose supporters claim they have been informed that they have been abruptly relocated in recent days.

Governments and activists in the West view the dissidents as political prisoners who have been wrongfully incarcerated. Moscow has labeled all of them as dangerous radicals for various reasons.

According to the state news agency STA, a Slovenian court sentenced two Russians to time served for espionage and using false identities on Wednesday. The court also declared that the Russians would be deported, a move that a Slovenian TV channel claimed was a part of the larger exchange.

“Today is a joyous day for the safe return of our colleague Evan Gershkovich, who left a Russian aircraft moments ago in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, as part of a prisoner swap with Russia,” wrote WSJ Editor in Chief Emma Tucker in an open letter posted on the X platform.

“We are grateful to President Biden and his administration for working with persistence and determination to bring Evan home rather than see him shipped off to a Russian work camp for a crime he didn’t commit.”