INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
journalist Evan Gershkovich, ex-U.S
Marine Paul Whelan, Russian-British opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza and U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva were freed from
four were released in a swap involving over a dozen other journalists, dissidents and other political prisoners in Russia in exchange for
BBC reported, citing the presidency of Turkey, which said it acted as a mediator in the swap.Among those freed from Russia on Thursday are
opposition activists Ilya Yashin and Andrei Pivovarov; Memorial co-founder Oleg Orlov; former Navalny coordinators Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia
Fadeyeva and Vadim Ostanin; artist Sasha Skochilenko; German-Russian activist Herman Moyzhes; and Kevin Lik, 19, a Russian-German citizen
sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a former Chechen rebel commander that Berlin says was carried out on Moscow's orders.President
Vladimir Putin personally greeted the returned Russians as they disembarked from their plane at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport and escorted them
Street Journal publisher Almar Latour and WSJ Editor in Chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.Moscow did not share any evidence for its
accusations against Gershkovich, only stating that "the court established and documented" that he "collected secret information" on a tank
factory in the Ural Mountains region of Sverdlovsk "on instructions from the CIA."Whelan, 54, had been serving a 16-year sentence for
vehicle parts company when he was arrested in Moscow in 2018.Gershkovich and Whelan, whom the U.S
other charges for his criticism of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and calls to Western countries to impose sanctions against the Kremlin.His
family and supporters have raised alarm over his health, which is said to have deteriorated in prison due to a nerve condition he sustained
For that he was arrested, given the longest sentence of any political prisoner of 25 years, and subjected to torture, denial of medical
care, solitary confinement and other inhumane conditions to try to break his health and his spirit," Browder said
"Throughout this entire ordeal Vladimir has held his head high, his spirits strong and has never wavered in his conviction that Russia could
democratic regime in their country."Price-tag protestsSt
At first, Sasha was taken somewhere, and we searched for her for two days
"The exchange seemed so surreal
because an exchange is a very serious undertaking
I immediately calculated how many risks there could be
when we arrive, whether we will be able to see Sasha immediately or if we will have to wait longer
In the exchange, we have such wonderful people who are real heroes of Russia, so to speak, like Orlov and Yashin
I believe she is one of them because speaking about peace and love in a country at war is very commendable."Veteran activistAlso among those
freed on Thursday was Oleg Orlov, 71, the co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Memorial human rights group who was sentenced in 2024
for speaking out against the war in Ukraine.His release "is wonderful because Oleg is a person who has committed no crimes and has spoken
Moreover, the truthfulness of his statements was confirmed by his own trial," Memorial member Alexander Cherkasov told The Moscow Times,
noting that some 700 political prisoners remain in Russian prisons."On one hand, wonderful people who have committed no crimes will be
On the other hand, they are releasing a murderer and unsuccessful spies
For Putin, such people are valuable
He needs to maintain the sense and motivation of other similar agents that they can do whatever they want, and we will rescue you
exchange came as a relief to the families and friends of those freed, it was a bittersweet moment for supporters of late opposition figure
Alexei Navalny.Shortly after Navalny died in an Arctic prison in February, his allies suggested that exchange talks involving Navalny and
Gershkovich had been in their final stages at the time of his death.A source close to the Kremlin told Reuters in February that Moscow and
time.On Thursday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that Navalny was supposed to be a part of the exchange."This
is a historic exchange and in my opinion it should go down in history under the name 'The Alexei Navalny Exchange'," Navalny's longtime
ally, opposition activist Lyubov Sobol, told The Moscow Times."I am very happy for all of those who are free today
But we know that Alexei was supposed to be released back in February
It was he who was proposed to be exchanged for Putin's murderer Krasikov
But Putin decided to kill Navalny
Every day I think of Alexei, and it is impossible not to think of him today as well."
