A potential prisoner exchange of significant magnitude between Russia and the West is reportedly on the horizon, with the possibility of including the incarcerated journalist Evan Gershkovich.
This swap, which may also involve the repatriation of Kremlin assassins to Russia, is poised to be the most substantial prisoner exchange between the two superpowers since the Cold War era.
As reported by The Independent, Gershkovich, who was handed a 16-year sentence on espionage charges by a Russian court last month, could be on American soil as early as this week. However, both the Kremlin and Washington have yet to confirm these reports. This development follows a series of unexplained movements of notable Western prisoners, sparking conjecture that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have consented to exchange them for Russians detained in the West.
Evidence of these movements was detected by flight tracking site Flightradar24, which reported a special Russian government plane, previously used for a prisoner swap, flying from Moscow to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Unverified Russian media reports also suggest that dissident and opposition activist Vadim Ostanin has been relocated from his Siberian prison to Moscow.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national held in the United States, declined to disclose his client's location to the state RIA news agency "until the exchange takes place." RIA further reported that four Russians incarcerated in the United States had vanished from a database operated by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons.
In a previous exchange in December 2022, Russia swapped basketball star Brittney Griner, sentenced to nine years for possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, for arms dealer Viktor Bout, serving a 25-year sentence in the US.
Gershkovich was swiftly convicted on espionage charges, which he refutes, on 19 July. Russia has already confirmed discussions about his potential exchange. Other US nationals currently imprisoned in Russia include former schoolteacher Marc Fogel, convicted for marijuana possession, which he claims was for medicinal purposes.
In a related development in Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, recently pardoned Rico Krieger, a German sentenced to death on terrorism charges, in a move marked by unusual speed and extensive state media coverage.
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