What the historic prisoner swap might mean for the future
It was an intricate prisoner swap months in the making – so long that, back before his death in February, Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny figured into the elaborate scheme.
It came to fruition late Thursday night, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, a rare happy ending that few saw coming. The emotional homecoming was the result of intricate, secret negotiations which the White House called a “feat of diplomacy.” In all, 16 political prisoners were released from detention in Russia and Belarus, in exchange for eight Russians held in five other countries.
Among the Americans who were “unjustly imprisoned” in Russia and returning home were Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was already advocating for other detainees in Russia: “Basically everybody I sat with is a political prisoner,” he said Thursday. “And nobody knows them publicly.”
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As many as seven wrongfully-detained Americans were left behind, among them teacher Marc Fogel, sentenced to 14 years for carrying medical marijuana.
Evan Gershkovich’s first year in captivity in a Moscow prison
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And we traveled to Prague in January to find the outpouring of support to free Alsu Kurmasheva, led by her husband, Pavel Butorin. “I need to keep it together … I don’t want emotion to get involved,” he said.
Detained: The heartbreaking ordeal of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
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Early Thursday, they were among the families summoned to the White House for that surprise announcement.
Kurmasheva and her fellow freed Americans are now decompressing at a San Antonio military hospital.
Doane asked former Ambassador Sullivan, “How do you stop someone like Putin from making a business out of this – capturing, throwing in jail Americans to get what he wants down the road?”
“Well, it’s extremely difficult,” he replied. “My concern now is that other countries are gonna see what the Russians have been able to do. So, this is becoming not just a Russian problem; it’s a global problem.”
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Story produced by Michelle Kessel. Editor: George Pozderec.
Seth Doane
Source: cbsnews.com