2024-08-02 06:41:43
According to the agency, according to the agreement, the United States and its allies will hand over prisoners held in Western prisons to Russia. It is not clear who else is involved in the prisoner swap.
The lawyer of journalist E. Gershkovich told RIA Novosti that she could not comment on the exchange. Mr Whelan’s lawyer said she had no information about the exchange and was waiting to hear from his brother.
Dmitry Peskov, the press representative of the Russian president, did not respond to “Vedomosti”‘s question about the possible exchange of E. Gershkovich and P. Whelan.
Earlier, the US television channel “Fox News” reported that E. Gershkovich may return to the United States on August 1.
On July 19, a Russian court sentenced E. Gershkovich to 16 years in prison on charges of espionage. He was arrested in March 2023 and spent more than a year in a Russian pretrial detention center. E. Gershkovich did not admit his guilt.
Mr Whelan was also sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security colony for espionage. He was detained in December 2018 in Moscow, where he had come to attend the wedding of a fellow officer. He was sentenced in June 2020, but also pleaded not guilty.
In recent days, about 10 prisoners convicted of political charges have been taken from Russian colonies and pre-trial detention centers to an unknown destination. According to The Moscow Times, Russia may release 20-30 people in this exchange. The Kremlin declined to comment on reports of a possible exchange.
On July 31, the Ljubljana District Court sentenced the Russian couple Artiomas and Anna Dulcevs in the espionage case. Slovenian TV channel N1 says the Dulcevas “will be part of a larger prisoner exchange”.
2024-08-02 06:41:43