STORY: A massive multi-national prisoner swap on Thursday saw the release of two dozen people including Americans held in Russian jails in the largest such exchange since the Cold War.
The deal, negotiated in secrecy for more than a year, included 16 prisoners held in Russia and eight held in the West.
These are some of the high-profile prisoners involved.
American journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia last spring.
:: Sverdlovsk Region District Court
He was accused of spying for the CIA to obtain secrets about a Russian company making tanks for the war in Ukraine.
Gershkovich, his employer the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government all denied the charges, but he was convicted and sentenced last month to 16 years in jail.
:: Paul Whelan
Former U.S. marine Paul Whelan was arrested in Russia in 2018.
At the time he was head of security for BorgWarner, a Michigan-based car parts supplier.
Moscow claimed he was a spy for military intelligence and had been caught with a flash drive holding classified information. He denied the charges.
He was sentenced two years later to 16-years in a Russian penal colony.
The U.S. grouped the Gershkovich and Whelan cases together, saying both were being used as bargaining chips by Moscow.
:: Vadim Krasikov
Among the eight prisoners sent back to Russia was Vadim Krasikov.
Krasikov is a colonel in the Russian FSB security service who was serving a life sentence in Germany for murdering an exiled dissident in a Berlin park.
:: August 23, 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin had indicated that Krasikov was the Russian prisoner he wanted swapped for Gershkovich.
Germany’s government said releasing Krasikov was not an easy decision.
Other Russian detainees freed in the exchange included Roman Seleznev, convicted in the U.S. on hacking-related crimes– and the Dultsevs, a Russian family found guilty by a Slovenian court of pretending to be Argentinians for purposes of espionage.
:: Vladimir Kara-Murza
Russia also released several jailed dissents, including Vladimir Kara-Murza.
The Russian-British national, who has ties to the U.S., was serving 25 years in a Siberian penal colony.
He was convicted of treason last year after saying Putin was bombing Ukrainian homes, hospitals and schools.
The dissidents are designated by Moscow as dangerous extremists, but are seen by governments and activists in the West as wrongfully detailed political prisoners.
Source Agencies
