A massive multinational prisoner swap on Thursday saw the release
of two dozen people including Americans held in Russian jails
in the largest such exchange since the Cold War.
The deal negotiated in secrecy for more than a year
included 16 prisoners held in Russia and eight held in
the West. These are some of the high profile
prisoners involved. American journalist, Evan Gersh Kovich was
arrested in Russia last spring. He was accused of
spying for the CIA to obtain secrets about a Russian
company making tanks for the war in Ukraine. Gersch
, his employer at the Wall Street Journal and the
US government all denied the charges but he was convicted
and sentenced last month to 16 years in jail.
Former US Marine, Paul Whelan was arrested in Russia
in 2018. At the time he was head of
security for Borg Warner, a Michigan based car parts
supplier Moscow claimed he was a spy for military intelligence
and had been caught with a flash drive holding classified
information. He denied the charges. He was sentenced
two years later to 16 years in a Russian penal
colony. The US grouped the Gershowitz and well in
cases together saying both were being used as bargaining chips
by Moscow. Among the eight prisoners sent back to
Russia was vadim. Krasko. Krasko is a colonel
in the Russian FSB security service who was serving a
life sentence in Germany for murdering an exiled dissident in
a Berlin Park. Russian President Vladimir Putin had indicated
that Krasikov was the Russian prisoner. He wanted swapped
for Gersh Germany's government said releasing Krasko was not an
easy decision. Other Russian detainees freed in the exchange
included Roman Seleznev convicted in the US on hacking related
crimes. And the dolt sevs a Russian family found
guilty by a Slovenian Court of pretending to be Argentinians
for purposes of espionage. Russia also released several jailed
dissidents including Vladimir Kara Murza, the Russian British national
who has ties to the US was serving 25 years
in a Siberian penal colony. He was convicted of
treason last year after saying Putin was bombing Ukrainian homes
, hospitals and schools. The dissidents are designated by
Moscow as dangerous extremists but are seen by governments and
activists in the West as wrongfully detained political prisoners open
to that permission.