2024-08-01 16:17:02
This Thursday, Russia released the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, the correspondent for Moscow Wall Street Journal, in the largest prisoner exchange with the West since the end of the Cold War. The Kremlin, together with Belarus, has also released former US military officer Paul Whelan, Russian assassin Ilia Yashin, German Rico Krieger, accused of terrorism, and a dozen other people. In exchange, the United States, Germany and other European countries have jointly handed over to Moscow several citizens accused of espionage or assassination. Among them is Pablo González, a Spaniard who came from Russia, who has been in Poland for more than two years without being charged. The exchange of 26 people – among whom were two small children – took place in Ankara, the capital of Turkey.
The National Intelligence Organization (MIT), the secret services of Turkey, has moderated the operation, according to a statement cited by the local press: “Today the exchange (of prisoners) will take place under the coordination of our agency. “This is one of the largest exchange projects in recent times and our organization has played an important role as a mediator.” Washington and Moscow asked Turkey to intervene, because the Eurasian country maintains good relations with both capitals: although it is a member of NATO since its foundation, it has not decided sanctions against Russia for the attack Ukraine and the leaders of both countries maintain regular contacts.
As Turkish intelligence sources explained to EL PAÍS, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, entrusted the head of MIT, Ibrahim Kalin (former presidential adviser on national security and foreign policy), to manage the case himself and, therefore , maintained in recent weeks. regular meetings with the parties to organize the exchange, which was preceded, last month, by the meeting of the parties involved in Turkey.
Given the sensitivity of the mission, the logistics of the exchange were overseen and managed by MIT from start to finish, according to Turkish sources. Seven planes landed this afternoon at Esenboga airport in Ankara. Two of them are from the United States, and the rest from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia. The 26 individuals traveled in them, detained in the aforementioned countries, and in Belarus.
“Due to the high number of prisoners to be exchanged, all individuals were removed from the planes under the supervision of MIT staff and transferred to a safe area,” the Turkish president explained in a statement. “After completing the necessary identity verification procedures, medical tests and other requirements, they are placed on the planes of the countries to which they will be sent, after receiving approval from MIT,” he added. As soon as they signed the exchange of the twenty-six, ten—including the two children—were taken to Russia; 12 to Germany and four to the US.
Washington has been discussing for months the release of Gershkovich, who was imprisoned in March 2023, while preparing information about the war in Ukraine. The reporter, accused of immigration, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on July 19 in a lightning trial (with only three door periods), in the first sign that the Kremlin wants to increase the exchange. US President Joe Biden then said he would not give up “in efforts to return” to his home, while continuing to work “hard” on his release. On the same day, the Russian court sentenced the American-American journalist Alsou Kurmasheva, from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty media, to six years, who was also released this Thursday.
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The President of the United States, Joe Biden, held a press conference with the relatives of the prisoners released by Russia, this Thursday at the White House.Evan Vucci (AP)
The Russian government was the first to comment on the project. Presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov has urged “enemies” who have left Russian prisons to avoid Russia. Furthermore, “all those who are not our enemies must return,” he said, quoted by the state news agency TASS.
Biden has described the negotiations that ended in the exchange as a “success of diplomacy.” After thanking the cooperation of the countries that have participated in the negotiations, the President also highlighted the importance of partnerships. “Today shows why we need to have friends in the world,” he said. When asked about Donald Trump, who has said on several occasions that he can secure the release of prisoners without exchange, Biden replied: “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”
The NGO Reporters Without Borders has also spoken out, expressing its relief at the end of Gershkovich’s ordeal and recalling that more than 40 journalists are detained in Russia. The organization said: “He should not spend a single day in a Russian prison for doing his job as a journalist.
Russian media have been reporting for several days on the possibilities of this exchange. The illegal transfers of many suspended infidels, such as the opposition politician Yashin and the messenger Orlov, from the prisons where they were held, or the “appearance” of many foreign prisoners from the domestic system -prisoners of Russia, draw attention. Add to this are other unusual decisions, such as that of the Belarusian government Aleksandr Lukashenko to pardon on Tuesday the German Krieger – who was accused of terrorism and who was sentenced to death in the middle of July – or the unjustified departure of the Two Russian spies have since been charged. Slovenia, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Among those released by Moscow, other names stand out, in addition to Gershkovich, such as that of reporter Vladimir Kara-Murza, a citizen with dual Russian and British citizenship who is serving a 25-year sentence for treason attack Ukraine. 42 years old, he is one of the most important figures of the Russian opposition and one of the main critics of Vladimir Putin. There is also Ilia Yashin, who was sentenced to eight years for questioning the Russian version of the Bucha massacre, in March 2022, which said that the bodies on the streets of the Ukrainian city were “presentations for the Western press.” Oleg Orlov, the chairman of the NGO Memorial, which will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, has been accused of being a foreign agent after publishing an opinion piece critical of the Kremlin.
Another new exchange took place in December 2022. Russia then exchanged basketball player Brittney Griner – sentenced to nine years for drug possession – for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is in prison in the United States Paul Whelan, but Moscow asked in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, sentenced to life in prison in Germany for killing a Chechen dissenter. Although that discussion was not fruitful—due to the rejection of the German Government—the two are now freed. German officials have admitted that Krasikov’s release was “not an easy decision.” “It is our obligation to protect the German people and our solidarity with the United States are important motivations,” he said in a statement.
In 2010, another important exchange took place, when Washington handed over 10 Russian citizens accused of spying, in exchange for four other citizens accused of spying for the United States and the United Kingdom.
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