A historic 24-person prisoner swap that saw the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other US citizens took place on an airport tarmac in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Prisoner Swap Takes Place At Ankara Esenboga Airport
Months in the making, Russia, the US, and Germany completed a multi-way prisoner swap today that involved Poland, Slovenia, and Norway as well.
The following Americans are now free:
- Evan Gershkovich
- Alsu Kurmasheva
- Paul Whelan
- Vladimir Kara-Murza (a prominent Russian opposition leader and US Green Card holder)
In exchange, Russia received eight hackers and spies, including murderer Vadim Krasikov. Krasikov shot dead a Georgian-Chechen dissident in a Berlin park in 2019 (Vladamir Putin later boasted to Tucker Carlson that Krasikov was “a man who, for patriotic reasons, eliminated a bandit.”). Other prisoners came from Poland, Norway, and Slovenia.
Around midday at Esenboga Airport (ESB) in Ankara a Russian plane carrying the captives landed where the prisoners to be exchanged were already waiting. The exchange was then conducted by MIT, the Turkish intelligence service:
“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.”
Prisoners were taken off planes upon arrival at ESB and taken to “secure locations” at the airport for “health checks and other formalities” before they were placed directly on the planes of the countries they would be flying to.
Footage of prisoner exchange at Ankara airport pic.twitter.com/OUR8jRU8xX
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 1, 2024
First footage of today's exchange that took place in Turkey
Reports say that Turkish intelligence became an intermediary in the operation to exchange 26 prisoners from 7 countries. pic.twitter.com/jtrc3RNBns
— The News Room (@TheNewsRoom0) August 1, 2024
Speaking of the prison swap, President Joe Biden said:
“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.”
Indeed they do…
Welcome home Evan, Paul, Alsu, and Vladimir.
image: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt
Do the released prisoners have to complete their sentences in US prisons?
No. They are considered to be free in the countries to which they are headed.
The Biden Administration — along with some European allies — also got some others out beside the ones who are US persons. The Germans weren’t too happy the last time they were asked to free the Russian assassin who killed the Chechen-tied Georgian in the Berlin area.
What about the green card holder? Wouldn’t he need a waiver of inadmissability by virtue of having a criminal conviction before he can return to the USA?
Which specific criminal convictions do you have in mind when it comes to the released with US LPR status?
Wouldn’t you assume that any criminal convictions of those who are considered by the USG to be wrongfully detained or convicted for activities that are not considered crimes by the USG are going to be disregarded? At least under any sensible US Administration.
Our dear friend Sean M has not stopped trolling since my Air India ban story. 😉
Our amigo Sean has a bit of family history with employment for Air India (and/or Indian Airlines) IIRC. And maybe a soft spot for Parsi-founded businesses? [The Tatas are a Parsi family too.]
Also, he has had his own unfortunate run in or two with how nasty it can be to seek admission into the US.
Semper Fi Paul Whelan. Welcome home.
This trade makes more sense. The last trade for the US basketball player was really poorly negotiated on the part of the US.
What makes you think it was poorly negotiated? How would it otherwise have been done better?
As has since become publicly apparent, Putin was holding out for the release of the incarcerated Russian assassin in Germany at a time when Germany was unwilling to release that assassin as part of a prisoner exchange to get out Putin’s most valued American detainees.
Yes, she should have been left to rot.
This was sad in that a convicted murderer was let go for a journalist and others who did nothing wrong.
In case anyone missed it, he’s being sarcastic.
This prisoner swap is noteworthy in that you see some kids being released to go to Russia. It’s just another window into a way that Russia operates: deep cover illegals who have their immediate family as part of the cover in targeted countries and settle in as “normal family” for even decades to facilitate Russian espionage activities.
Other countries including ours do sort of the same thing, but it’s done in somewhat different ways than the Russians. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if Russia goes onto detaining an entire family of Americans sometime down the road to try to use as leverage to get more of its compromised assets and agents back or to build up its hacker base by securing the release and return of criminal hackers it wants to use.
The children of the Russian spies released by Slovenia speak Spanish and thought of themselves as Argentines. They reportedly had no clue they were Russian until after they were on their way to Russia, and it was also reported that the kids didn’t even know who Putin was when Putin greeted the kids in Spanish on arrival to Russia.
My reply was when the comment (pre-edit) only said this:
“Yes, she should have been left to rot.”
Really, they swapped prisons? Those things are damn heavy, and pretty awkward to move around. No small feat (and no small feet, either).
There is of course something problematic when a murderer is released just because the murderer engaged in politically-motivated murder with “the right” state-actor approval. The assassinated Chechen Georgian’s family said about as much when they more or less said it was good that freedom was delivered before these detainees ended up dead in Russian custody but that the release of their relative’s assassin puts into question the rule of law in countries that claim to put rule of law on a pedestal.
Bloomberg (news) in a bit of hot water over this prisoner release:
https://us.yahoo.com/news/bloomberg-apologizes-premature-story-prisoner-162308731.html
They wired out an article about the release of the prisoners while they were still subject to Russian custody in the air.