U.S., Russia prisoner swap is the latest in a long history of exchanges between the world powers
Washington — In the largest international prisoner exchange since the Cold War, 24 prisoners were traded on a tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday in a deal involving half a dozen countries.
The complex deal, which secured the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, was months in the making, with American and Western diplomats working for months to secure the release of 16 prisoners in exchange for eight individuals sought by Russia who were being held in Germany, Slovenia, Norway, Poland and the U.S.
While high-profile prisoner trades have happened between Washington and Moscow for decades, they have, until recent years, typically involved spies. More recently, they’ve involved Americans who the U.S. considered to be wrongfully detained — former Marines, a journalist and a women’s basketball star.
handed over 10 Russian spies who had lived undercover in the U.S. for years until their arrests in 2010 by the FBI. In exchange, released four of its own citizens to the West, including Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who was imprisoned for passing secrets to British intelligence.
April 27, 2022
Dimitar DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images
Marine veteran Trevor Reed was handed over to the U.S. on a Turkish tarmac, nearly three years after he was arrested during a drunken night out on allegations that he assaulted two police officers.
In return, the U.S. freed Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving a 20-year prison sentence for drug smuggling.
Dec. 9, 2022
US Army Photo by Miguel A. Negron
Months later, WNBA star Brittney Griner was traded for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” on an airport in Abu Dhabi.
Griner was arrested earlier that year at a Moscow airport when vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her bags. She was sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges.
Arrested in 2008, Bout was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the U.S. for conspiring to sell weapons to people who intended to kill Americans.
Aug. 1, 2024
U.S. Government Photo
Among the prisoner releases in recent years, Whelan was the first to be detained in Russia in 2018. He was convicted on espionage charges, that he and the U.S. vehemently deny, and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
Gershkovich had been detained since March 2023, when he was arrested during a reporting trip. He was the first American journalist to be accused of espionage by Moscow since Daniloff in 1986. Last month, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in what the U.S. called a “sham” trial.
Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was based in Prague, was arrested in June 2023 after visiting her mother in Russia. Authorities charged her with disseminating false information about Russia’s military and sentenced her to more than six years in prison in July.
Unlike Whelan and Gershkovich, the U.S. never deemed her to be wrongfully detained.
Caitlin Yilek
Source: cbsnews.com