Russia, the US and a series of other countries exchanged 26 prisoners including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on Thursday in the largest swap since the cold war, according to Turkish security officials.
Thursday’s exchange in Ankara involving seven countries was the culmination of many months of painstaking diplomacy after president Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine plunged US-Russia relations to their lowest level in decades. The talks also drew in Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, and Belarus.
Russia agreed to release 16 prisoners including Gershkovich, who had been convicted on spying charges, and Paul Whelan, a former US marine serving a sentence for espionage, as well as other individuals including prominent political prisoner Ilya Yashin, the Turkish officials said.
In return, a total of 10 people, including two children, were transferred to Russia, including Vadim Krasikov, a hitman convicted of a murder in broad daylight in Berlin in 2021, they said.
This is a developing story