Russia releases Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and other political prisoners in major exchange with West

In a historic prisoner swap with Western countries, Russia has released 16 high-profile political prisoners, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and Russian-British citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza. The exchange took place in Turkey on Thursday and involved the release of prisoners by Russia, the U.S., Germany, Slovenia, Belarus, Poland, and Norway. Speculation about a potential swap began earlier this week after at least seven high-profile Russian prisoners were transferred to unknown locations. Here’s what we know about this developing story so far.

Russia released 16 political prisoners on Thursday in the biggest and most complex swap with the West since the Cold War.

Following an early report from Bloomberg that Russia was set to free Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, as well as Paul Whelan and Vladimir Kara-Murza as part of the exchange, The Wall Street Journal later confirmed their release. “It is a joyous day for Evan’s family, friends and colleagues, who have worried about him and supported him these past 16 months,” WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a statement. “And it is a joyous day for the relatives and friends of the other wrongfully detained Americans and German citizens who returned home and for the Russian political prisoners who were released to the West.”

The Journal also confirmed the release of Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who was arrested in Russia in October. Earlier in the day, RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement that the broadcaster welcomed her release. “We are pleased with the news of Alsu’s imminent release and grateful to the American government and all who tirelessly worked to end her unjust treatment by Russia,” Capus said. “Alsu was targeted because she was an American journalist simply trying to care for a family member in Russia.”

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Confirmation from the White House came soon after. Calling the deal a “feat of diplomacy,” President Joe Biden said in a press statement that Russia is releasing 16 people under the deal, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens. He also thanked Germany, Poland, Slovenia, and Norway for support in the negotiations leading up to the exchange.

Russian officials were slower to comment on the historic swap. After Turkish television channel NTV reported that an exchange involving 26 people had taken place at Ankara Airport on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the unfolding events. “We are not saying anything on this topic at the moment,” he told the Russian state news agency TASS.

The Kremlin later announced that Vladimir Putin had signed decrees pardoning 13 prisoners held in Russia with “the aim of returning Russian citizens who were detained and imprisoned in foreign countries.”

According to the Turkish news channel TRT Haber, the exchange was overseen by Turkish intelligence and saw 10 people traded to Russia, including two minors; 13 to Germany; and three to the United States. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s administration later confirmed in a statement that the exchange had taken place.

The Russian Telegram channel Sirena suggested that the minors could be the children of convicted Russian spies Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, who were arrested in Slovenia.

Who was exchanged?

Earlier on Thursday, the investigative news site The Insider published a list of prisoners it said would be included in the exchange. According to the outlet, Russia was set to release:

• Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich
• Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza
• Former Navalny associate Lilia Chanysheva
• Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin
• Former Navalny associate Ksenia Fadeyeva
• Russian opposition politician Andrei Pivovarov
• Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan
• Dual U.S.-Russian citizen and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
• Memorial co-founder Oleg Orlov
• Anti-war artist Sasha Skochilenko
• Political scientist Demuri Voronin
• Dual German–Russian citizen Kevin Lik
• German citizen Rico Krieger (imprisoned in Belarus)
• German citizen Patrick Schobel
• German lawyer and activist Herman Moyzhes
• Former Navalny associate Vadim Ostanin

In exchange, it said Russia would receive:

• Former FSB officer Vadim Krasikov (from Germany)
• Convicted spy Artem Dultsev (from Slovenia)
• Convicted spy Anna Dultseva (from Slovenia)
• Alleged spy Mikhail Mikushin (from Norway)
• Alleged spy Pavel Rubtsov (from Poland)
• Roman Seleznev (from the U.S.)
• Hacker Vladislav Klyushin (from the U.S.)
• Alleged FSB agent Vadim Konoshchenok (from the U.S.)

Associates and supporters have already confirmed that Oleg Orlov, Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeyeva, Kevin Lik, Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov, and Sasha Skochilenko were released.

The Kremlin’s list of pardons does not mention Rico Krieger, who was pardoned by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, or Patrick Schobel and Herman Moyzhes, who had not yet been sentenced.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed the return of eight Russian citizens as part of the exchange, but did not disclose their names.

Leonid Volkov, Alexey Navalny’s former chief of staff, said on Telegram that the late opposition leader was originally supposed to be included in today’s exchange. The post included a link to a video published shortly after Navalny’s death in February, in which Anti-Corruption Foundation head Maria Pevchikh alleged that Vladimir Putin killed Navalny because his allies had “secured a decision on his exchange.” According to Volkov, Pevchikh was referring to the current swap. “Putin decided to ‘flip over the board,’ deciding he wouldn’t give Navalny up for anything. And killed him literally a couple of days before the exchange could take place,” he wrote. 

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan later confirmed that Navalny was supposed to be included in the prisoner swap, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Lara Seligman.

The pre-swap speculation

Rumors of a potential swap began swirling earlier this week following the sudden transfer of at least seven Russian political prisoners to unknown locations. Lawyers and supporters were unable to locate Oleg Orlov, Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeyeva, Sasha Skochilenko, Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Kevin Lik. Additionally, journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who was sentenced to six years in prison last year for spreading “disinformation” about the Russian army, failed to show up to her scheduled hearing on Wednesday, according to her employer, RusNews.

Speculation about a major exchange was further fueled by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s decision on Tuesday to pardon German citizen Rico Krieger, who had received the death sentence last month.

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On Wednesday, lawyer Igor Slabykh reported that information about five high-profile Russian prisoners in the U.S. had disappeared from the Federal Bureau of Prisons database: Vladislav Klyushin, Alexander Vinnik, Maxim Marchenko, Vadim Konoshchenok, and Roman Seleznyov. (On Wednesday Marchenko’s lawyer, Kerry Lawrence, told Meduza that his client was “still in custody here.”)

Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer from the human rights project Department One, told Meduza that the last time multiple political prisoners disappeared simultaneously was in 2019, in the lead-up to a 35-for-35 prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine.

Prior to the exchange, officials declined to comment publicly on the speculation. On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to confirm or deny rumors of a possible prisoner swap. When asked directly if a potential swap with the West might include American journalist Evan Gershkovich, Peskov said, “We don’t comment on this topic.” Similarly, White House national security spokesman John Kirby declined to comment about a possible prisoner swap when asked by Puck News journalist Julia Ioffe, saying, “I think you can understand we wouldn’t want to mess anything up to prevent there from being a positive result.”