WASHINGTON—Three Americans and one green card holder designated by the U.S. as being wrongfully detained in Russia are heading home following the conclusion of a multinational prisoner swap.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and Marine veteran Paul Whelan were inbound to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland by mid-afternoon on Aug. 1.
All three were imprisoned in Russia on charges vehemently denied by each, with Moscow accusing Gershkovich and Whelan of spying and Kurmasheva of spreading false information about the Russian military.
In all, 16 people were released from Russia to the United States, Germany, and the UK. The United States and its allies returned eight prisoners to Russia.
The swap was part of an eight-nation negotiation mediated by Turkey that involved 24 prisoners between the United States, Germany, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia on one side and Russia and Belarus on the other.
U.S. President Joe Biden said during a press conference that the complex effort relied upon the cooperation of allied nations, and he underscored the importance of maintaining strong international partnerships to ensure that such deals could continue to be made.
“The deal that made this possible was a feat of diplomacy and friendship. Multiple countries helped get this deal,” 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.”
He said the ordeal of the prisoners and their families was finally coming to an end and that building trust with the nation’s international partners remains a priority of his administration.
“Today, their agony is over,” Biden said.
“This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon. Our alliances make Americans safer.”
Not Everyone Comes Home
Despite the great fanfare, there are other Americans who are still detained in Russia and whose continued confinement is becoming a contentious issue at home.Foremost among them is Pennsylvania native Marc Fogel. He was not among those released by Russia, and his absence has drawn the concern of some in Congress.
Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), and Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) issued a joint statement saying that Fogel remained “unjustly imprisoned” and calling on the Biden administration to ensure “that any potential prisoner swap include Marc Fogel.”
Fogel was arrested in Russia in 2021 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug trafficking. At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, which was prescribed to him by his doctor in the United States.
Fogel’s mother is now suing Secretary of State Antony Blinken for not designating her son as “wrongfully detained,” thereby denying Fogel additional resources that could help secure his release.
The White House acknowledged Fogel’s absence in the prisoner swap and said it will continue efforts to secure his release.
“Today was a very big day, and we’re going to build on it, drawing inspiration and continued courage from it for all of those who are held hostage or wrongfully detained around the world,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
“That includes Marc Fogel, who we are actively working to get his release from Russia as well.”
Also absent was Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died under mysterious circumstances in a Russian prison in the Arctic earlier in the year.
Sullivan said Navalny was originally intended to be included in the exchange and that he had spoken to Navalny’s family about the issue.
“On the very day that he died I saw his parents, and I told them that the president was determined to get this done in light of that tragic news and that we were going to work day and night to get to this day,” Sullivan said.
Russian Assassin, Spies, and Cybercriminals Freed
In exchange for the release of journalists and activists, Russia received from Western nations several key players in its intelligence and transnational repression apparatus, including an assassin, four spies, and three convicted criminals.Those prisoners returned to Russia are:
Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted for the 2019 murder of a Chechen rebel in Berlin, which the judges in his case described as an assassination ordered by Russian authorities;
Artem and Anna Dultsev, a Russian spy couple who pleaded guilty to espionage charges in Slovenia, where they claimed to be art dealers;
Mikhail Mikushin, a Russian spy arrested in Norway in 2022 while claiming to be a Brazilian researcher;
Pavel Rubtsov, a Russian spy arrested in Poland who claimed to be a Spanish journalist;
Vladislav Klyushin, who was convicted of hacking U.S. companies and using the ill-gotten information to conduct stock market trades;
Vadim Konoshchenok, who was accused of acting on behalf of Russian intelligence and smuggling American-made electronics and hundreds of thousands of munitions to the Russian military for use in its war in Ukraine; and Roman Seleznev, who was convicted of hacking into point-of-sale computers to steal and sell credit card numbers to the criminal underworld.
The office of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that it was not easy to free a “murderer” such as Krasikov but that it was necessary to secure the liberty of those detained in Russia.
Scholz’s spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement that the release of 15 people held “wrongfully” in Russia and a German held in Belarus could be achieved only by deporting Russians “with an intelligence background.”
“Our obligation to protect German citizens and solidarity with the U.S. were important motivations,” he said.
When pressed on whether the United States made the right decision in releasing hardened Russian assets in exchange for journalists and activists, Sullivan said the need to preserve Americans’ well-being was worth the cost.
“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 in a hostile foreign country or in the hands of a hostile power,” he said.
“From our perspective, we have assessed and analyzed that risk, and we have judged that the benefit of reuniting Americans and bringing people home ... outweighs the risk.”
U.S. officials made clear on Aug. 1 that the prisoner swap was not an indication of progress in any other realm of U.S.–Russian relations.
On that issue, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel signaled that the United States will continue to push for increased aid to Ukraine and to counter Russia aggression more broadly.
“This is not some sort of reset of any kind of relationship,” Patel said. “It is not. There has been no change.
“This is a good day because American citizens are able to come home, and we’re incredibly proud of the work that has happened to get that done. But as I just said, Russia’s aggression into Ukraine continues.”
