WASHINGTON.-A massive prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia is taking place on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been released publicly, did not specify who is included in the deal. But among the Americans Washington believes are unjustly detained in Russia are the journalist from the Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich y Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan. Both had been convicted of espionage charges that the U.S. government considered unfounded.
Russia has long been interested in bringing back Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of murdering a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services.
Speculation about a possible prisoner swap had been mounting for weeks due to a confluence of unusual events, including a surprisingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich, which Washington considered a farce. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security prison.
Source: With information from AP
