Large-scale prisoner exchange between Russia and the West: what is known about those released and what are Russia's motives

Large-scale prisoner exchange between Russia and the West: what is known about those released and what are Russia's motives Sofia Rozhik

What is known about the large-scale prisoner exchange between Russia and the West/Collage by Channel 24

On August 1, the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War took place in Turkey. At least 10 Russian political prisoners, two Americans accused of espionage, and a German citizen sentenced to death in Belarus have returned from Russian prisons.

On the eve of the exchange, it became known that 6 political prisoners had disappeared from Russian prisons in 2 days. Their lawyers claimed that this looked like preparations for the exchange, but did not rule out other options. In most cases, the reasons and directions of the transfer were unknown. Human rights activists for the missing also noted that they do not remember such cases when so many political prisoners were transferred at the same time.

The very next day, August 1, information began to appear in Western media about the release of some of the Kremlin's prisoners. This was subsequently confirmed by US President Joe Biden. In fact, as part of this exchange, Russia gave Europe journalists and cultural figures, and in return received killers and spies.

The US added that this exchange is in no way connected with the negotiations on the war in Ukraine.

Everything we know about the large-scale exchange between Russia and the West, read in the article 24 Channel.

Who was released by Russia

Among those released from Russian prisons are Russians, as well as citizens of the United States and Germany.

The following were released:

• Ilya Yashin. Sentenced to 8.5 years for “fakes” about the army;
• Vladimir Kara-Murza. Received 25 years on charges of treason;
• Alsu Kurmasheva. Journalist for Radio Liberty, convicted for refusing to disclose her “foreign agent” status;
• Andrei Pivovarov. Former head of Open Russia, accused of operating an undesirable organization;
• Oleg Orlov. Human rights activist, head of Memorial;
• Alexandra Skochilenko. Detained for anti-war actions;
• Liliya Chanysheva. Former head of Navalny's Ufa headquarters;
• Ksenia Fadeeva. Former head of Navalny's headquarters in Tomsk;
• Rico Krieger. Former employee of the German Red Cross, who was sentenced to death in Belarus, but later “pardoned” by Lukashenko.
• Kevin Leake. The youngest political prisoner convicted of “treason”;
• Demuri Voronin. Political scientist, defendant in the Ivan Safronov case;
• Vadim Ostanin. Former head of Navalny's Barnaul headquarters;
• Patrick Schöbel. German citizen, arrested for possession of marijuana;
• Paul Whelan. Former Marine, convicted of espionage;
• Herman Moyzhes. Lawyer, ideologist of the cycling movement.

This is a very good day. Today we are bringing home Paul, Evan, Alsu, Vladimir – three US citizens and one US permanent resident. Russian authorities arrested them, tried them in sham trials and sent them to long prison terms without any legal basis. None, – said US President Joe Biden.

He also stressed that the Russian authorities convicted, in particular, four Western figures, in fake trials, and they were sent to prison for long terms without any legal grounds.

Who was given away by the West in the exchange

As part of the exchange, Russia was given back a hired killer, spies, hackers, and the like. In particular, the list of released criminals includes:

• Artem and Anna Dultsev. They lived in Slovenia under the fictitious names of Ludwig Gisch and Maria Rosa Mayer Munoz. Detained in Ljubljana. Possibly, they are GRU illegals.
• Pavel Rubtsov. GRU agent, posing as Spanish journalist Pablo Gonzalez. Detained on the Polish-Ukrainian border. Accused of espionage for Russia.
• Roman Seleznev. Russian hacker, sentenced in the US to 27 years in prison for computer fraud and identity theft.
• Vladislav Klyushin. Found guilty of insider trading by a Boston court in the US. Sentenced to 9 years in prison.
• Mikhail Mikushin. In May 2022, a court in Norway charged him with espionage.
• Vadim Konoschenko. One of the participants in the Sernia smuggling network, which illegally exported high-tech equipment from the US and supplied it to Russian state-owned companies through EU countries.