How did the US handle the biggest prisoner swap with Russia since the Cold War? – Firstpost

They often say that reality inspires film. But this time, perhaps the film inspired reality. The prisoner exchange with Russia on August 1st resembled a remake of an 80s spy movie, but it was an arduous task that took more than two years to complete, involving secret talks and complicated diplomacy involving Germany, Russia and the United States, which had divergent interests.

But as they say, hard work pays off and 16 people finally got their freedom, including “Wall Street Journal” reporter Evan Gershkovich, serving a harsh sentence on espionage charges; Washington Post associate Vladimir Kara-Murza, one of the most outspoken and outspoken critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin; and Paul Whelan, a former Marine who languished in Russian prisons for more than five years on trumped-up charges.

The prisoner swap marks the largest prisoner swap with Russia since the Cold War. The fact that it happened at all — one of the most complicated prisoner swaps in history — is significant, as ties between the countries involved remain strained as Russia’s war with Ukraine continues.

So how did this all happen?

Who is being released? Which countries are involved?

In the prisoner swap, 16 Americans, Russians and Germans will be released from Russia in exchange for eight Russians held in the United States, Germany and other countries.

Among those released is Evan Gershkovich, “Wall Street Journal” reporter who was jailed in Russia in 2023 while on a reporting trip. He was detained over claims that he helped the CIA gather intelligence on a Russian military equipment manufacturer, claims that he and the U.S. government have vehemently denied.

Then there’s Paul Whelan, a US, English, Irish and Canadian citizen who was accused of espionage in 2018 after traveling to Moscow for a wedding. He has similarly denied the charges.

He was also released by Moscow. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen who was convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military — charges denied by her family and employer — and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who is serving a 25-year sentence for high treason, widely believed to be politically motivated.

In return, Russia accepted eight of its citizens — the most notable being Vadim Krasikov, convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services.

Additionally, two alleged sleeper agents have been imprisoned in Slovenia, three have been charged by authorities in the U.S., and one each in Norway and Poland.

This New York Times described the prisoner swap as “the most far-reaching exchange between Russia and the West in decades” because the deal was a complex agreement involving seven countries, including the United States, Slovenia, Turkey, Norway and Germany.

How did it all start?

White House officials say this prisoner swap has been in the works since 2022. In fact, the talks that led to Thursday’s exchange actually began more than two years ago, before Gershkovich was detained.

U.S. officials say the talks began after WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained in Russia on drug charges. Speaking to Reuters, officials familiar with the matter said Russia approached them with a deal dubbed “a spy for a spy.” They were willing to release Griner and Whelan in exchange for Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov.

Krasikov, however, was not imprisoned in America; he was serving a life sentence in Germany after murdering a Chechen-Georgian dissident in broad daylight in a Berlin park.

After months of talks, it was decided in December 2022 that Griner would be released in a swap with Russia for arms dealer Viktor Bout. However, Whelan would be left behind.

After Griner’s release, Secretary of State Antony Blinken floated the idea of ​​another possible prisoner swap with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. The talks became urgent in March 2023 after the Russians arrested Gershkovich, a senior administration official said.

According to Washington Post report, after receiving news of Gershkovich’s arrest, Blinken called Lavrov. “This is a journalist who works for an internationally respected news outlet,” Blinken said, according to a U.S. official. “The claims that he spied are outrageous and false.”

“Your government has crossed a line,” Blinken told the Russian, the official said.

Lavrov responded that Evan had been “caught red-handed” and said that “being a journalist does not give him immunity.” Russia insisted that the reporter had been spying. “We are both adults,” Blinken replied. “You know that despite all our efforts to get information, we do not use journalists.”

A month after Gershkovich’s arrest, the US asked Germany to release Krasikov. An exchange of names of people who could be added to the prisoner exchange began. After much deliberation and discussion, the matter reached the office of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

So what stopped the exchange?

In January this year, Scholz visited the U.S. at the invitation of President Joe Biden, and the two discussed the possibility of a prisoner exchange, according to officials familiar with the matter. The German side expressed readiness to free Krasikov provided that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who was being held in a Russian penal colony, was released.

According to Washington Post Scholz then reportedly told Biden, “I’ll do it for you.”

But as they say, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. On February 16, news came that Navalny had died in a remote Arctic prison.

Officials wondered how the plan could be implemented without Navalny, and Germans had less and less faith in the idea.

It was only in June that continuous discussions and negotiations bore fruit – Berlin approved the agreement, and at the end of the month Washington proposed it to Russia.

According to Reuters Agency reports, the Russians agreed in principle (to the swap) in early July and then accepted it in late July, the U.S. official said. “Then we got to work right away,” and an interagency task force began working to finalize the complicated arrangements for the swap, the official said.

The final piece of the puzzle, interestingly, came just as Biden’s political career was in tatters. An hour before Biden announced he was dropping out of the U.S. presidential race, he called the Slovenian prime minister from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to convince him to make the final cut.

How did the final stage of the exchange go?

After finalizing the details, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, and Gershkovich’s parents on Tuesday and invited them to the White House on Thursday.

In the telephone conversation for which they were invited to the White House, one instruction stuck in their minds the most: Don’t tell anyone.

On Thursday (August 1), as American families gathered at the White House, Sullivan stood at the White House podium with a shrug and welcomed what he called a “good day.”

“We were holding our breath and keeping our fingers crossed until recently,” he said.

On Thursday, planes flew across Europe, carrying numerous pieces of this fragile puzzle. All exchanges took place on Thursday at the airport in Ankara.

Finally, the Americans released by Russia landed at Andrews Air Force Base, where they met with their families and with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden told freed Americans: ‘welcome home.’ “My father used to say family is the beginning, the middle and the end, it’s who we are as a country,” Biden said on the tarmac.

With information from the agency