Russia releases prisoners in major exchange deal with West

Russian President Vladimir Putin met the returning Russian national involved in a complex swap of prisoners with Western countries upon their arrival in Moscow late on Thursday. 

He briefly embraced each one as they stepped off the plane at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport.

The eight returnees included Vadim Krasikov, convicted by a German court of killing a Chechen dissident in Berlin.

Putin told them they would be presented with state awards and that he told them that their homeland "had not forgotten them, not for a single minute."

"We will see each other again and talk about your future," he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday evening it was a very difficult decision to release Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin who was serving a life sentence for a 2019 murder in Berlin. 

"It was not easy for anyone to make this decision to deport a murderer sentenced to life imprisonment after only a few years in prison, said Scholz at Cologne/Bonn airport, where he was waiting to welcome freed German prisoners arriving later in the evening from Turkey. 

The chancellor added the interest of the state in seeing Krasikov punished had to be weighed against the danger to life and liberty faced by innocent people in Russian prison, including those imprisoned for political reasons. 

"And that is why it was important to us that we have an obligation to protect German nationals as well as solidarity with the United States," Scholz added. 

Earlier US President Joe Biden said he "particularly" owed "a great sense of gratitude" to Chancellor Scholz. 

The deal "required me to get some significant concessions from Germany, which they originally concluded they could not do because of the person in question," Biden said.

US President Joe Biden says he and the families of the US citizens who were freed as part of the swap were able to speak to them earlier by phone. 

The deal saw the release of three US citizens — Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva — as well as US green card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza. 

"Their families and I were able to speak to them on the telephone from the Oval Office. They're out of Russia and earlier today they were flown to Turkey, and soon they'll be wheels up on the way home to see their families."

He also pointed out that seven of those released from Russian prisons had been political prisoners in their own country, including four who worked with late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the head of Russian rights group Memorial, Oleg Orlov.

"Now, they can live safely abroad and continue their work of advocating for democracy, if they so choose."

He also appeared to take a swipe at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has expressed his reservations about the NATO defensive alliance.

"This deal would not have been made possible without our allies, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey. They all stepped up and they stood with us and they made bold and brave decisions; Released prisoners being held in their countries, who were justifiably being held, and provided logistical support to get the Americans home."     

"So for anyone who questions whether allies matter; They do; They matter. And today's a powerful example of why it's vital to have friends in this world. Friends you can trust, work with, and depend upon."

"Our alliances make our people safer."

The White House says the United States had been working on a deal that would have freed detained Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who died in Russian custody earlier this year.

"We had been working with our partners on a deal that would have included Alexei Navalny, and unfortunately, he died," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told journalists.

Navalny, who was Russia's most prominent opposition leader, died in February at the age of 47 in a remote Arctic prison colony.

Soon after Navalny's death, US President Joe Biden said there was "no doubt" that Navalny's death "was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did."

Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya said it was a "joy" to see so many activists and opposition politicians freed.

"Every released political prisoner is a huge victory and a reason to celebrate," Navalnaya said in a post on X, adding that those freed had been "saved from Putin's regime"

"We still have many people to fight for: We will make every effort to ensure that they are freed. Freedom for all political prisoners!"

One of Navalny's closest allies Leonid Volkov said there was a bitter-sweet feeling surrounding the swap.

"Today we're reveling in the release of political prisoners, Putin's hostages who were suffering in Putin's gulag," Volkov said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "But it still will be joy with tears in our eyes. 'The Navalny swap' has taken place ... But without Navalny. It hurts a lot."

The British government says it "strongly welcomes" the release of its citizens Paul Whelan and Vladimir Kara-Murza in a prisoner exchange deal with Russia.

"I am particularly relieved that British nationals Vladimir Kara-Murza and Paul Whelan will soon be reunited with their families," UK foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement.

Cambridge graduate Kara-Murza is a dual national British and Russian citizen and the holder of a US green card.

Whelan is a citizen of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

Last year, the 42-year-old was sentenced to 25 years on charges of treason for opposing the war in Ukraine. 

Cambridge graduate Kara-Murza had spent years campaigning for Western sanctions against the Kremlin.

However, the level of repression has dramatically worsened since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

In his closing statement at his trial, Kara-Murza alluded to the former Soviet Union's dark legacy of prosecutions, saying the country has gone "all the way back to the 1930s."

While in prison, his family said they feared for his deteriorating health.

His wife Evgenia Kara-Murza says he suffers from a nerve condition after surviving two poisoning attempts.

Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev has said he welcomes the release of Russians who had "worked for the Fatherland."

He also issued a menacing threat to those that Russia considers as "traitors."

"I would like, of course, for traitors of Russia to rot in the dungeons or die in prison ... but it is more useful to get out our own, who worked for the country, for the Fatherland, for all of us," Medvedev, who is now deputy head of the security council, said in a post on Telegram.

"Let the traitors now feverishly pick up new names and actively disguise themselves under witness protection programs."

In total, 10 Russians, including two minors, were exchanged for 16 Westerners and Russians who were imprisoned in Russia.

In 2020, a Russian court sentenced former US marine Paul Whelan to 16 years in a penal colony for espionage.

As the verdict was read out, Whelan stood in the courtroom defendant's cage with a sign that read "Sham trial!" and called on the US president to intervene.

The US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan condemned the trial as unfair and lacking transparency.

Whelan was arrested in 2018 and accused of seeking to obtain state secrets. 

The trial against the 50-year-old has been held behind closed doors as US and Russia relations have been at a low point, following accusations by the US intelligence community that Moscow interfered with the 2016 presidential election.

Whelan, who was dishonorably discharged as a US Marine before working as head of global security at a US auto parts company, has maintained his innocence. 

He said he had traveled to Russia in December 2018 to attend a wedding. He was arrested in Moscow for receiving a USB drive from an acquaintance, which Whelan thought contained holiday photographs.

Authorities claimed the USB drive contained state secrets.

Whelan is a citizen of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

A Turkish security source says the process of exchanging 24 prisoners and two children at an airport in Turkey's capital Ankara has been completed. 

Earlier, the country's MIT intelligence service had confirmed that the swap was underway and said it had been involved in the exchange from beginning to end. 

"MIT conducted this prisoner exchange operation between seven countries in Ankara from the beginning of the negotiation process until the final moment when the exchanges took place. MIT ensured that all security measures, logistical planning, and exchange activity requirements were met and facilitated communication and coordination between the parties."

MIT said prisoners had been taken off the planes upon arrival in the Turkish capital, and taken to secure locations under the supervision of its staff. After health checks and other formalities, they were placed on planes of the countries that they would be traveling to.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken to newly freed US citizens Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Speaking by phone, Blinken told them he was happy they were home and President Joe Biden had been determined to ensure their release.

Blinken made the call during a refueling stop in Japan en route back to Washington DC from Mongolia.

Russian prosecutors claimed they had proofthat Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich gathered "secret information" for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

He was accused of gathering information on the Uralvagonzavod defense equipment factory in Nizhny Tagil, a plant that makes and repairs tanks and other military equipment that lies to the north of Yekaterinburg in the Ural region. 

Gershkovich, his newspaper and the US government have all rejected the accusations, with Washington accusing Moscow of "hostage diplomacy."

Officers from Russia's FSB security service arrested Gershkovich in March 2023 at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg, some 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) east of Moscow. Since then, he has been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison.

Last month, the court sentenced him to 16 years in "a strict regime colony."

Germany has also confirmed the prisoner swap with Russia involving the United States and European allies.

German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement the deal had involved close and trusting cooperation with the United States and European partners.

US President Joe Biden, when asked by reporters about what Germany wanted in return for its cooperation, replied: "nothing."

According to the German statement, the exchange agreement secured the release of 15 people who were unlawfully detained in Russia and a German citizen, Rico K. who had been sentenced to death in Belarus.

Among those returning to Russia was Vadim Krasikov, convicted in 2021 of shooting to death a Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity in a Berlin park in 2019. 

The victim, 40-year-old Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot in an "execution-style" killing at Berlin's Kleiner Tiergarten park. The killing was carried out the drive-by style shooting on a bicycle in broad daylight — shooting the victim in the head and chest, prosecutors said. 

A German court concluded it was an assassination ordered by the Russian security services and Krasikov was sentenced to life imprisonment. 

"The German government did not take this decision lightly," said a statement.

"The state's interest in enforcing the prison sentence of a convicted criminal was offset by the freedom, physical well-being and — in some cases — ultimately the lives of innocent people imprisoned in Russia and those wrongfully imprisoned for political reasons. Our obligation to protect German citizens and solidarity with the United States were important motivators."

"We hope that all those released today will recover from their physical and psychological suffering in the company of their family and friends. Our thoughts are with all those who are still being imprisoned in Russia today for expressing their opinions and telling the truth about Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine. Their courage must be an example to all democrats!"

"The federal government calls on the Russian and Belarusian leadership to release all other unjustly politically imprisoned people."
 

US President Joe Biden has made a statement on the prisoner swap with Russia, hailing the diplomatic effort it took to secure the releases.

"Today, three American citizens and one American green card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza."

"The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy."

Biden later gave a speech, alongside the relatives of some of those released, and said they had been imprisoned by Russia for "absolutely no legitimate reason."

"Soon they will be wheel's up on their way home to see their families," he added. "This is an incredible relief."

Biden's statement said the deal had secured the release of 16 people from Russia—including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country.

"Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty," said Biden. "Today, their agony is over."

"I am grateful to our allies who stood with us throughout tough, complex negotiations to achieve this outcome— including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey. This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon. Our alliances make Americans safer."

The United States has confirmed that it and four allies reached a deal with Russia for one of the largest prisoner exchanges since the end of the Cold War. 

The swap includes the release of 16 people, including US journalist Evan Gershkovich, and former US Marine and security analyst Paul Whelan, the White House said on Thursday.

The Biden administration negotiated the exchange with Russia and several other countries. The Western allies agreed to send eight prisoners held in the West back to Russia, including Vadim Krasikov who was in prison in Germany. 

The deal, negotiated in secret for more than a year, is likely to be presented by the Biden administration as a major foreign policy success as the US presidential race enters its final months.

The Kremlin has said it hopes those individuals who have now left Russia, whom it described as "enemies," would stay away, the state-run TASS news agency reported.

The comments appeared to be an oblique reference to the prisoner swap being conducted by Turkey.

"I believe that all our enemies should stay there [abroad], and all those who are not our enemies should return. That's my point of view," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. 

Peskov did not comment directly on the swap, although TASS quoted him saying he hoped to speak about it later on Thursday.