Bloomberg reports that journalist Evan Gershkovich and American Paul Whelan have been released and are now leaving Russia by plane.

The first reports of a prisoner exchange between several countries are emerging. The details of the exchange have not yet been provided, and it is not known where the plane with the Americans is heading, or whether it has already left Russian territory.

The message confirms that their release is part of an exchange involving several countries. Bloomberg is almost the only source at this hour directly writing about the release of Hershkovich and Whelan, previously convicted on charges of espionage. Both have pleaded not guilty. President of the corporation Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Stephen Kapus in statement in connection with a possible exchange mentioned Evan Gershkovich and the previously convicted Radio Liberty journalist Alsa Kurmasheva in Kazan:

“We hope that all unjustly held political prisoners, especially journalists like Alsou and Evan, will return to their loved ones. Journalism is not a crime.”

Journalist in exchange for SVR spies – appeared message Telegram channel “Mozhem osobyvatel”. The first names of prisoners exchanged between Russia and the West have become known. The media have published the first data on former prisoners exchanged as part of an unprecedented international campaign. “MO” provides a preliminary list of those who have been released (to be supplemented).

Who was liberated by the Russian Federation?:

Evan Gershkovich. Journalist for The Wall Street Journal. In March 2023, he was detained in Yekaterinburg on suspicion of espionage. According to the prosecution, he was collecting classified information about Uralvagonzavod. Gershkovich did not admit his guilt. In July 2024, he was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony.

Paul Whelan. The American spent 6 years in custody in Russia. The former Marine was detained in Moscow in December 2018 on charges of espionage and attempting to recruit FSB and Defense Ministry officers. Whelan himself claimed innocence. Despite this, he received 16 years in prison. In October, CNN reported that Washington had made Moscow a “serious offer” to release the American.

Whom the West liberated:

Spouses Anna and Artem Dultsevillegal intelligence agents from the SVR. In Slovenia, they posed as Argentine emigrants named Maria Rosa Mayer Munoz and Ludwig Gish. In Slovenia, they were sentenced to 1 year and 7 months, which they had already spent in custody, after which they would have been deported.

Since July 26, political prisoners have been disappearing from Russian prison colonies. The first to be taken away from the prison in Bereznyaki was activist Liliya Chanysheva. On July 27, Ilya Yashin was taken from a prison in the Smolensk region. Then Ksenia Fadeeva (like Chanysheva, she was the coordinator of Navalny's headquarters), Oleg Orlov (co-chairman of Memorial), Alexandra Skochilenko (an artist who painted price tags), Kevin Lik (an 18-year-old citizen of the Russian Federation and Germany, sentenced to five years for treason), and Daniil Krinari (an artist and performance artist, sentenced for “creating an agent network and preparing terrorist attacks”) were taken away from prison.

All were taken by employees of the central office of the Federal Penitentiary Service and now at least these seven are in Moscow, presumably in Lefortovo. There may be other people convicted under political articles who were transported to Moscow. The opposition media is actively discussing the possibility of exchanging political prisoners for an employee of the Russian special services, professional killer Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a sentence in Germany (for the murder in Berlin of the former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khantoshvili).

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