Getty PicturesA significant prisoner alternate between Russia, the US and 4 European international locations is underneath means in Ankara, the Turkish presidency has confirmed.
Three US residents imprisoned in Russia – Wall Avenue Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, US Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva – are considered amongst these being launched.
In complete, the alternate will contain at the least 24 prisoners.
Eight Russian nationals are anticipated to be returned to Russia, together with a number of with suspected ties to Russian intelligence.
One in every of them is Vadim Krasikov, recognized by German officers as a colonel in Russia’s FSB intelligence service, who’s serving a life sentence for the 2019 homicide of a Kremlin opponent in a Berlin Park.
German media reported that he was on a aircraft to the Turkish capital Ankara.
The swap comes after days of hypothesis a couple of main swap between numerous international locations, which elevated after a number of dissidents and journalists jailed in Russia had been moved from their jail cells to unknown areas.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Kremlin opponent with twin Russian-British citizenship, is a type of detainees whose whereabouts are unknown which has fuelled expectations that he too might be launched.
Others doubtlessly on the checklist are Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin and veteran human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov.
Though secret jail transfers are widespread in Russia, the a number of “disappearance” of well-known prisoners was uncommon.
Earlier this week, Belarusian chief Alexander Lukashenko pardoned a German citizen Rico Krieger who had been sentenced to dying for terrorism and different expenses.
If all of the releases happen, it is going to be one of many largest exchanges between Russia and the West in historical past.
The final high-profile prisoner swap came about in December 2022, when US basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged on the tarmac at Abu Dhabi airport for infamous Russian arms vendor Viktor Bout, who had been held in an American jail for 12 years.
The final comparable one occurred in Vienna in 2010, when 10 Russian spies held within the US had been swapped for 4 alleged double brokers held in Russia.
One in every of them was Sergei Skripal, a former army intelligence officer, later poisoned by nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury in 2018.
Tensions between Moscow and the West have been excessive in recent times, particularly because the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
