Russia on Thursday released American journalist Evan Gershkovich, Moscow correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, The Kremlin and Belarus have also released former US military officer Paul Whelan, Russian dissident Ilia Yashin, German terrorism suspect Rico Krieger and a dozen other people. In exchange, the United States, Germany and other European countries have jointly handed over to Moscow several citizens accused of espionage or murder. Among them is Russian-born Spaniard Pablo Gonzalez, who had been held in Poland for more than two years without charge. The exchange of the 26 people, including two children, took place in Ankara, the Turkish capital.
The National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), Turkey’s secret service, has mediated the operation, according to a statement cited by local press: “Today an exchange (of prisoners) will take place under the coordination of our institution. This is one of the largest exchange operations in recent times and our organisation has played an important role as a mediator.” Washington and Moscow asked Turkey to intervene, as the Eurasian country maintains good relations with both capitals: despite being a member of NATO almost since its foundation, it has not imposed sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and the leaders of both countries maintain constant contact.
According to Turkish intelligence sources who spoke to Morning Express, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked MIT chief Ibrahim Kalin (former presidential adviser on national security and foreign policy) to personally handle the case and, therefore, held constant meetings with the parties in recent weeks to prepare the exchange, which was preceded last month by a meeting of the parties involved in Turkey.
Given the sensitive nature of the mission, the logistics of the exchange have been supervised and controlled by MIT from start to finish, according to Turkish sources. Seven planes landed this afternoon at Esenboga airport in Ankara, two of them from the United States, and the rest from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia. They were carrying the 26 individuals, who were detained in the aforementioned countries, as well as in Belarus.
“Due to the high number of prisoners to be exchanged, all individuals were removed from the planes under the supervision of MIT staff and transferred to a safe area,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement. “After completing the necessary identity verification processes, medical examinations and other requests, they were put on the planes of the countries to which they would be sent, after receiving approval from MIT,” it added. Once the exchange of the 26 individuals was approved, 10 — including the two minors — were transferred to Russia, 12 to Germany and four to the United States.
The United States had been negotiating for months the release of Gershkovich, who was arrested in March 2023 while preparing a report on the war in Ukraine. The journalist, accused of espionage, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on July 19 in a lightning trial (with only three sessions behind closed doors), in the first sign that the Kremlin wanted to speed up the exchange. US President Joe Biden then said that he would not stop “in efforts to bring him back” home, while continuing to work “intensely” on his release. On the same day, the Russian justice system sentenced Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, of the media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, to six years, who was also released on Thursday.
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The Russian government was the first to comment on the operation. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged the “enemies” who left Russian prisons to stay away from Russia. In addition, “all those who are not our enemies must return,” he said, quoted by the state news agency TASS. For his part, Biden described the negotiations that led to the exchange as a “feat of diplomacy.” In his appearance, and after thanking the countries that participated in the negotiations for their collaboration, the president reiterated the importance of alliances, “which make us safer, today shows why we need to have friends in the world.” When asked specifically about Donald Trump, who has stated on numerous occasions that he could secure the release of the prisoners without an exchange, Biden replied: “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”
The Russian press had been reporting on the possibility of such an exchange for several days. On the one hand, attention was drawn to the unnoticed transfers of several detained dissidents, such as opposition politician Yashin and activist Orlov from the prisons where they were being held, or to the “disappearance” of several foreign prisoners from the Russian penitentiary system. Added to this were other unusual decisions, such as the one by the regime of Belarusian Alexander Lukashenko to pardon on Tuesday the German Krieger – accused of terrorism and sentenced to death in mid-July – or the unjustified deportation of two alleged Russian spies from Slovenia, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Among those released by Moscow are other names, besides Gershkovich, such as that of journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British citizen who was serving a 25-year sentence for criticising the invasion of Ukraine. Aged 42, he is one of the most prominent figures in the Russian opposition and one of Vladimir Putin’s main critics. There is also Ilia Yashin, sentenced to eight years for questioning the Russian version of the Bucha massacre in March 2022, which maintains that the bodies in the street of the Ukrainian city were a “production for the Western media”. Meanwhile, Oleg Orlov, co-president of the NGO Memorial, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, was accused of being a foreign agent after publishing an opinion column critical of the Kremlin.
The other most recent exchange took place in December 2022. Russia then exchanged basketball player Brittney Griner – sentenced to nine years for drug possession – for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was imprisoned in the United States. Washington sought to include former military officer Paul Whelan in the exchange, but Moscow asked in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for murdering a Chechen dissident. Although that negotiation was unsuccessful – due to the rejection of the German government – both have now been released. The German government has admitted that the release of Krasikov “was not an easy decision”. “Our obligation to protect German citizens and our solidarity with the United States were important motivations,” it said in a statement.
Such a large-scale exchange has not taken place since 2010, when Washington handed over 10 Russians accused of espionage in exchange for four other citizens accused of spying for the United States and the United Kingdom.
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