A massive prisoner swap involving the United States and Russia was underway Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said.
The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details had not been publicly disclosed, did not specify who is included in the deal. But Americans considered by the U.S. to be wrongfully detained in Russia include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan.
Both had been convicted of espionage charges that the U.S. government considered baseless.
The deal would be the latest exchange in the last two years between Washington and Moscow, following a December 2022 trade that brought WNBA star Brittney Griner back to the U.S. in exchange for notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout.
Russia has long been interested in getting back Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services.
Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich that Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.
Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.
Gershkovich was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, he moved to the country in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the Journal in 2022.
He had more than a dozen closed hearings over the extension of his pretrial detention or appeals for his release. He was taken to the courthouse in handcuffs and appeared in the defendants’ cage, often smiling for the many cameras.
U.S. officials last year made an offer to swap Gershkovich that was rejected by Russia, and Biden’s Democratic administration had not made public any possible deals since then.
Gershkovich was designated as wrongfully detained, as was Whelan, who was detained in December 2018 after traveling to Russia for a wedding. Whelan was convicted of espionage charges, which he and the U.S. have also said were false and trumped up, and he was serving a 16-year prison sentence.
Whelan had been excluded from prior high-profile deals involving Russia, including the April 2022 swap by Moscow of imprisoned Marine veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy. That December, the U.S. released notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for getting back WNBA star Brittney Griner, who’d been jailed on drug charges.
The Whelan family said in a statement:
"Paul Whelan is free. Our family is grateful to the United States government for making Paul’s freedom a reality. We’d like to thank President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and National Security Advisor Sullivan for their engagement with the Russian Federation to create the environment where Paul’s freedom became a possibility.
"Paul Whelan is not in a Russian labor colony any longer, but he is not home. While Paul was wrongfully imprisoned in Russia, he lost his home. He lost his job. We are unsure how someone overcomes these losses and rejoins society after being a hostage. We are grateful for everyone’s efforts to help Paul while he was away. We hope you will continue to help him by providing Paul the space and privacy he needs as he rebuilds his life. It is Paul's story to tell and he will tell it when he is able."
You can read the full statement here.
U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) welcomed Thursday’s release of Novi resident Paul Whelan.
“Today is a joyous and long overdue day for Paul, his family, and all who have been working tirelessly to get him back home to Michigan. For the past several years, I have worked with Administration officials, my colleagues, and Paul’s family to press for his release, and I’m beyond relieved that today marks the end of this unimaginable nightmare for Paul and his loved ones. Michigan welcomes him home with open arms.”
Michigan’s senior U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) called Whelan’s release “welcome news.”
"After more than five years, Paul Whelan is coming home. I know the past years have been excruciating for Paul and his family. I’m so glad they will be seeing Paul soon. Thank you to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for your incredible work to bring these Americans home.”
U.S. Representative Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) said he’s “overjoyed” by the release of Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich.
"Paul and Evan are innocent Americans who have been wrongly detained simply to increase the Kremlin’s geopolitical bargaining power."
U.S. Representative Dan Kildee (D-Flint) slammed Russia for holding the Americans in the first place.
“Russia wrongfully detained Paul and Evan as political prisoners after sham trials with no evidence of wrongdoing. Both Paul and Evan, as well as their families, suffered greatly through this terrible ordeal. But even on the darkest days, they never gave up hope—and neither did the American people. Now, we are grateful Paul and Evan are on their way home to be reunited with their loved ones.”
