Russia releases US journalist Evan Gershkovich, ex-Marine Paul Whelan in multi-nation prisoner swap

Russia has released an American journalist, Evan Gershkovich, and a former US Marine, Paul Whelan, as part of a prisoner exchange involving multiple countries, according to news agency Bloomberg.

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested in March 2023 on espionage charges, which he and the US government vehemently denied. He was subsequently sentenced to 16 years in a Russian penal colony.

Whelan, a corporate security executive, was detained in 2018 and convicted on espionage charges.

The details of the prisoner swap, including the identities of those exchanged by the US and its allies, have not yet been officially confirmed. However, sources familiar with the matter suggest that the deal involved a complex negotiation with multiple countries, the reports said.

According to news agency Reuters, flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed that a special Russian government plane used for a previous prisoner swap, involving the United States and Russia, had flown from Moscow to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad which borders Poland and Lithuania before heading back to the Russian capital.

At least six special Russian government planes have flown in recent days to and from regions where prisons holding dissidents are located, online Russian outlet Agenstvo has reported.

On the Russian side, according to reports, four prisoners were reportedly freed from the U.S. under the deal. Reports citing the Russian news agency TASS indicated that the Russian prisoners had been removed from the FBI electronic database, signalling the prisoner swap.

The four prisoners said to have been freed are Alexander Vinnik, Vladislav Klyushin, Vadim Konoschenko, and Maxim Marchenko, who were convicted of various offences, including money laundering and smuggling.

The multi-country prisoner exchange involves Russia and Belarus on one side and the United States, Germany and Slovenia on the other side.