2024-08-01 11:51:33
Former US Marine Paul Whelan and Russian-British dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, both imprisoned in Russia, disappeared Wednesday, their lawyers said, after at least seven Russian dissidents were unexpectedly moved from their prisons in recent days.
Russian online media outlet Agenstvo reported that at least six special Russian government planes flew to and from the regions where their prisons were located. Reuters could not immediately confirm this.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Alexander Vinik, a Russian jailed in the United States, refused to confirm his client’s whereabouts “until the exchange takes place” to state news agency RIA. However, RIA quoted lawyer Arkadius Buchs as saying that lawyers representing those imprisoned in Russia told him that they “are on their way”.
Mysterious disappearances
RIA also reported that four Russians imprisoned in the United States have disappeared from the inmate database maintained by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons. She named them as A. Vinik, Maksim Marchenko, Vadim Konošchenko and Vladislav Kliušin.
The US also holds at least two other Russian nationals, Vladimir Dunayev and Roman Selezniov, convicted of serious cyber crimes, who may also be among the prisoners.
The Kremlin, like the Russian embassy in Washington, declined to say whether a swap of defendants was imminent, and Western countries had no comment. Such exchanges are usually shrouded in secrecy until they take place.
Among the dissidents in Russia whose supporters say they have been told they have been suddenly transferred in recent days are opposition politician Ilya Yashin, human rights defender Oleg Orlov and Daniil Krinari, who was convicted of collusion with foreign governments.
Others who have suddenly disappeared from the prison system include German-Russian citizen Kevin Lik, convicted of high treason, opposition activists Lilia Chanysheva and Ksenia Fadeyeva, and anti-war artist Sasha Skochilenko.
Ivan Pavlov, a prominent Russian human rights lawyer who currently lives in Prague, said the disappearance of so many people with a similar profile suggests authorities were rounding them up, possibly in Moscow, for a prisoner exchange, according to USA Today.
He said they would have to be pardoned by Kremlin mastermind Vladimir Putin before the exchange, a necessary formality.
in 2022 in December, Russia exchanged basketball star Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years for having e-cigarette liquid cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, for Russian arms dealer Viktor But, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.
The largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War took place in 2010, when a total of 14 people were exchanged.
The West considers the detainees to be political prisoners
In the West, governments and activists view dissidents as illegally detained political prisoners. All of them have been labeled by Moscow as dangerous extremists for various reasons.
Two journalists are also expected to participate in the exchange.
July 19 American journalist Evan Gershkovich was convicted unusually quickly on espionage charges, which he denies. He has been sentenced to 16 years in prison and Russia has already approved negotiations for his possible exchange.
E. Gershkovich may return to the United States as soon as Thursday, having been released in a possible major prisoner swap between Russia and several Western countries. This was reported by the TV channel “Fox News”, which is based on the “eurointegration” portal.
According to the host of the channel, such information was obtained from The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News reporters are now trying to get more information.
On the same day (July 19), journalist Alsu Kurmasheva of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, funded by Russia and the United States, was charged in an unusually hasty trial and sentenced to six and a half years in prison, accused of spreading false information about the Russian army. She denies her guilt.
Other US citizens behind bars in Russia are former teacher Marc Fogel, 2022 convicted of possession of marijuana, which he said he used for medical reasons.
Meanwhile, in Belarus, President Aliksandr Lukashenka, a close ally of V. Putin, on Tuesday, also with unusual urgency and coverage of the situation in the state media, granted a pardon to the German Rico Krieger, who was sentenced to death on terrorism charges.
Among those Moscow would like to receive is Russian Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a former Chechen fighter.
A Slovenian court on Wednesday sentenced two Russians to prison terms for espionage and using fake identities and ordered them to be deported, state news agency STA reported, while a Slovenian television channel said the move was part of a wider people swap.
D. Peskov does not comment
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov on Thursday did not comment on media reports about a possible prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States.
“I still don’t have any comments on this topic,” a Kremlin spokesman said, as quoted by Russian news agency TASS.
Earlier, Western and Russian media said that Moscow and Washington were preparing a large-scale prisoner exchange. This conclusion was reached based on the analysis of databases and assumptions about the movement of some convicted persons.
2024-08-01 11:51:33