{"id":106229,"date":"2024-08-01T14:39:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T14:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/01\/massive-prisoner-swap-underway-between-us-and-russia\/"},"modified":"2024-08-01T14:39:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T14:39:06","slug":"massive-prisoner-swap-underway-between-us-and-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/01\/massive-prisoner-swap-underway-between-us-and-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive prisoner swap underway between US and Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Massive<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan are among those being exchanged in a prisoner swap deal between the US and Russia, it has been reported.<\/p>\n

There have been ongoing reports that a swap deal has been underway today, including movements of various planes, but the exact nature of the agreement has not yet been confirmed.<\/p>\n

However, the Reuters news agency is reporting that Mr Gershkovich and Mr Whelan, who had been held in Russian prisons, are among those being moved. It cited the Turkish presidency<\/p>\n

Details of the possible exchange remain scarce but there is speculation that it could be the biggest such swap since the Cold War.<\/p>\n

Evan Gershkovich<\/strong><\/p>\n

US journalist Gershkovich was first arrested and detained in March 2023 after Russia claimed he had been “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden previously said the Wall Street Journal reporter had been “targeted” and that they were “pushing hard” for his release.<\/p>\n

Russian prosecutors alleged he had gathered secret information on the orders of the CIA about a company that manufactures tanks for Moscow’s war in Ukraine<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Mr Gershkovich, 32, said the charges against him were false and his employer called the case a sham.<\/p>\n

He was jailed for 16 years earlier this month<\/a><\/strong> after being convicted of espionage in a trial widely seen as politically motivated.<\/p>\n

Paul Whelan<\/strong><\/p>\n

A former US marine, Paul Whelan has been in custody in Russia since he was arrested in a Moscow hotel room on 28 December 2018.<\/p>\n

Police said they caught him “red-handed” with a computer memory stick containing a list of secret Russian agents.<\/p>\n

He was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years<\/a><\/strong> in a maximum security prison.<\/p>\n

Mr Whelan, who also holds British citizenship, had pleaded not guilty, claiming he was set up by a sting operation and that he had been given the USB drive by someone else, thinking it only contained holiday photos.<\/p>\n

The then US ambassador to Russia John Sullivan described the case against Mr Whelan as a “mockery of justice”.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more:
F-16 fighter jets finally arrive in Ukraine<\/a>
Syrian president in surprise visit to Russia<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

While we await more information about what is happening, here are some of the other high profile people being held in Russia<\/a><\/strong> that have been the subject of speculation.<\/p>\n

Vladimir Kara-Murza<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Vladimir Kara-Murza. Pic: AP
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A dual UK-Russian citizen, Vladimir Kara-Murza is being held in a penal colony in the Siberian city of Omsk on treason charges he says are politically motivated.<\/p>\n

The opposition politician was jailed for 25 years on charges after making public remarks which were critical of the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

His arrest in April 2022, weeks after Russia<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>invaded Ukraine, came as authorities ratcheted up their crackdown on dissent to levels unseen since Soviet times.<\/p>\n

Mr Kara-Murza’s wife and lawyers have repeatedly sounded the alarm about his health deteriorating in prison.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Follow
\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n
\n Follow Sky News on WhatsApp<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News<\/p>\n

Tap here<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Vadim Ostanin<\/strong><\/p>\n

An associate of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Mr Ostanin was convicted on extremism charges in July last year.<\/p>\n

He was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony after being found guilty of organising an extremist community and belonging to a non-profit that “infringes on citizens’ rights,” Mr Navalny’s team said at the time.<\/p>\n

Mr Ostanin was detained in November 2021, several months after Mr Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his regional offices were labelled as “extremist organisations” by the Russian government.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of a potential exchange are Russian citizens held in prisons in the West.<\/p>\n

Vadim Krasikov<\/strong><\/p>\n

Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov is serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a Georgian citizen who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.<\/p>\n

German judges said he acted on the orders of Russian authorities, who gave him a false identity, passport and the resources to carry out the killing.<\/p>\n

The killing and subsequent sentencing triggered a major diplomatic row between Russia and Germany, including tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan are among those being exchanged in a prisoner swap deal between the US and Russia, it has been reported. There have been ongoing reports that a swap deal has been underway today, including movements of various planes, but the exact nature of the agreement has not yet been confirmed. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/05\/768x432\/skynews-vladimir-kara-murza_6562049.jpg?20240521165218","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5007,16557,202,18055,32223],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106231,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106229\/revisions\/106231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}