Up to 24 people will be released as part of a prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, the White House said in a press release on Thursday.
The agreement, mediated by seven nations, is the biggest trade since the fall of the Soviet Union. Among those freed by Russia are Paul Whelan, a former US Marine imprisoned since 2018, and Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal writer jailed last year on espionage allegations.
The US government had made numerous requests for proof to back up the accusations, but had received none. Both individuals had continuously maintained their innocence.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a well-known Russian journalist and dissident who had opposed the Kremlin and was serving a 25-year term for treason charges that were mostly believed to be politically motivated, is also included in the prisoner swap.
Hailing the agreement as a “powerful example” of the value of international cooperation, President Joe Biden said from the White House that the liberated persons’ “brutal ordeal was over.”
Meanwhile, ties between the United States and Russia are precarious right now. The main cause of the elevated tensions between the two countries after the end of the Cold War was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The US and its allies agreed to liberate many Russian nationals, including Vadim Krasikov, who was found guilty in Germany of carrying out an assassination in Berlin in 2019, in exchange for the release of these inmates. Other Russians who were freed in the prisoner swap faced charges in several Western nations for a variety of offenses, including cybercrime and espionage.
Even though there are an unprecedented 24 participants, some analysts are concerned that such extensive exchanges could encourage other nations to hold Americans or other Westerners as negotiating chips. Some also argue about the fairness of exchanging those wrongfully imprisoned in Russia for people rightfully convicted of crimes in the West when discussing the trade balance.