Exchanged Russian inmates say, “We’ll see our home again”

Swearing they would return home eventually were Russian activists who had been freed from prison and sent to Germany as part of the largest prisoner exchange program since the end of the Cold War.

At a press conference held in Bonn, three of the sixteen detainees who were freed in return for seven Russian agents—among them a murderer—thanked the Western countries for facilitating the exchange.

Two of them stated they had never consented to leave their country: Ilya Yashin, who has been imprisoned since 2022 for opposing the invasion of Ukraine, and opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was serving a 25-year term.

“August 1st: What happened?” Yashin told reporters in Bonn, “I want to go back home more than anything. I don’t consider this as a prisoner swap; I view the operation as my illegal exile from Russia against my choice.

After being set free, he went on, his mission now was to carry on his nation’s struggle for freedom and democracy. He was informed that attempting to return would condemn him to the same fate as Alexei Navalny, who passed away in an unidentified Russian prison camp last year.

The U.S. and Germany, in months of covert negotiations with Russia, arranged the trade, he continued, adding that he was positive it had saved the lives of several of the sixteen political prisoners who were freed.

In a tearful speech to media, Yashin stated, “Other prisoners who have health issues should have been exchanged ahead of me,” taking off his glasses at one point.

Kara-Murza remembered being requested to compose a letter pleading with Vladimir Putin for leniency. He claimed he had been convinced he would die in a Russian prison and never see his wife again.

“I said that I consider him not to be a legitimate president, to be a dictator, a usurper and a murderer,” he said. “And that I’m not going to sign any petitions for mercy, because I’m not guilty of anything.”

In spite of this, he was released a few days later. Kara-Murza remarked, “Nobody asked for our permission, yet here we are.”

He stated the agent accompanying him had informed him to have a close look at his native country since he would never see it again when the jet carrying him and the other inmates to Ankara took off.

He added, “And I laughed.” “You see, I’m a historian,” I told him. Not only do I believe and feel it, but I also know that I will return to my native nation. And it’ll happen more faster than you anticipate.”