Three Americans are back on U.S. soil after the Biden administration yesterday secured their release, along with a U.S. green card holder, in a prisoner exchange with Russia.
The United States, Germany, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia together released eight of their prisoners to Russia. In exchange, Russia and its ally Belarus freed 16 of their prisoners.
Evan Gershkovich greets his mother Ella Milman after he arrived back in the United States as President Joe Biden looks on at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Aug. 1, 2024. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The exchange marked the return of U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and Russian-British Vladimir Kara-Murza. Germany took in five German nationals and seven Russian dissidents as part of the swap.
President Joe Biden thanked Germany, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia for agreeing to release prisoners, and Turkey for providing the venue for the exchange. It was the largest U.S.-Russian prisoner swap in post-Soviet history.
“This deal would not have been made possible without our allies Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey,” Biden said. “They all stepped up and they stood with us and they made bold and brave decisions.”
For its part, Russia won the release of Artem and Anna Dultsev, a Russian couple who pleaded guilty to spying charges in Slovenia. Mikhail Mikushin and Pavel Rubtsov, who were arrested on spying charges in Norway and Poland respectively, also went free in the deal.
The Biden administration also agreed to release Maxim Marchenko and Vadim Konoshchenok, whom U.S. juries convicted of facilitating transfers of funds and military equipment to Russia. Russian nationals Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin, both convicted in the United States on hacking charges, also went free in the deal.
Germany agreed to release Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in 2019 of murdering a Georgian man named Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, who claimed asylum in Germany after fighting against Russian forces in Chechnya. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s office said it wasn’t an easy decision to release Krasikov.
“It is difficult to send back a convicted criminal to secure the release of an innocent American and yet sometimes the choice is between doing that and consigning that person basically to live out their days in prison,” White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Thursday.
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) said he was happy to see Americans freed, but said the exchange was “not equal.” Young argued the Biden administration had traded legitimately convicted Russians for wrongfully detained Americans.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said the exchange could create a worrying signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin, encouraging “further hostage-taking by his regime.”
Sen. Chris Murph (D-Conn.), by contrast, credited the Biden administration with a policy coup for including Russian dissidents in the prisoner exchange, arguing it advances a broader U.S. interest in promoting democracy abroad.
“We can’t stand up for democracy globally if we aren’t supporting those freedom fighters,” Murphy told The Epoch Times.
While the Biden administration touted Thursday’s prisoner swap as a feat of diplomacy, administration officials denied any link between this deal and a broader reset in U.S.-Russia relations. Sullivan said the Biden administration is continuing to support Ukraine in its war with Russia and will let Ukraine lead the way in any peace talks in that ongoing conflict.
—Ryan Morgan
Falun Gong Protection Act Introduced to Senate
A group of lawmakers have introduced the Falun Gong Protection Act to the Senate to address Beijing’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting targeting the spiritual group Falun Gong.
The measure, a companion bill to one that has already passed the House, would make it a U.S. policy to avoid cooperation with China on organ transplantation and compel the regime to stop “any state-sponsored organ harvesting campaign.”
The U.S. president under the act would need to provide to relevant congressional committees a list of foreign persons determined to have “knowingly and directly engaged in or facilitated the involuntary harvesting of organs within the People’s Republic of China.”
They would face sanctions—a ban on entering the United States and engaging in U.S.-based transactions. There could also be a civil penalty of up to $250,000 and a criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is the lead sponsor of the bill, cosponsored by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
Within a year of the bill becoming law, the secretaries of State and Health and Human Services, along with the director of the National Institutes of Health, would need to submit a report to Congress on the organ transplant policies and practices in China, including a list of U.S. grants supporting organ transplantation in China over the past 10 years. The same officials would also need to determine whether the persecution of Falun Gong constitutes an “atrocity” under the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018.
Rubio introduced the bill along with two other legislations. One of them is the Stop CCP Act, which would sanction CCP officials and their adult family members for “acts of aggression, oppression, and human rights abuses,” such as suppression of freedoms in Hong Kong, military harassment and aggression toward Taiwan, India, and the Philippines, and human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang.
—Eva Fu
BOOKMARKS
A New York appeals court rejected Trump’s challenge to a gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan, The Epoch Times’ Tom Ozimek reported. In an Aug. 1 opinion, the Appellate Division, First Department, ruled that the terms of the gag order would remain in place until Trump’s sentencing.
A fraternal battle among Arizona Republicans ended with Abe Hamadeh defeating Blake Masters in the primary for the GOP-friendly Eighth Congressional District, The Epoch Times’ Nathan Worcester reported.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) yesterday began its early vote to formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris for president, The Epoch Times’ Jacob Burg reported. The process will continue until around 6 p.m. on Aug. 5. Votes for any candidate other than Harris will be recorded as “present,” defeating any possibility of a last-minute coup among Democratic delegates.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Republicans’ vice presidential candidate, yesterday visited a half-completed section of the border wall which had its construction halted by a day one Biden executive order. The Epoch Times’ Nathan Worcester, who was on the scene as Vance spoke, reported that Vance took the opportunity to call for the wall to be completed and a reinstatement of Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy.
The United States has acknowledged Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González as the winner of the country’s presidential election and called for a peaceful transfer of power from President Nicolás Maduro, The Epoch Times’ Caden Pearson reported. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that there was “overwhelming evidence” to suggest that González had won despite Maduro claiming victory.
