Russia Frees Americans Gershkovich, Whelan in Swap

Russia has freed Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan as part of a large prisoner swap with the West, reports the AP. Turkish officials confirmed the swap on Thursday after reports emerged at Bloomberg and the Daily Beast, among other outlets. Details were still emerging.

• Two big names: Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, had been detained more than a year, and Whelan, a former US Marine, had been held since 2018. Both were convicted of espionage charges that the US says are bogus.
• Prison movement: Reuters reports that Whelan and Russian-British dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza had disappeared from view in recent days, and at least seven Russian dissidents had been moved from their prisons. The outlet says the swap involved prisoners held by Russia and Belarus on one side, and prisoners held by the US and Germany, and perhaps other nations, on the other. The AP estimates about two dozen people were involved.

• Russia's side: The New York Times reports that among the pro-Putin prisoners freed is Vadim Krasikov, a convicted assassin. Journalist Christo Grozev, who the Daily Beast reports was involved in negotiations, calls the deal "bittersweet" because it shows that as long as Putin "hoards 'swap capital' he will always be able to get his killers, hackers, and spies back."
• Dissidents: The Washington Post lists Russian dissidents Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, Oleg Orlov, and artist Alexandra Skochilenko as among those who'd been moved from their prisons.

(This story was updated with new details, including Turkey's confirmation of the swap.)