An exchange of prisoners between Russia and the Western nations, including the United States, took place in Ankara, several reports said on Thursday.
US citizens, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, US Marine soldier Paul Whelan and Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva were released earlier today at the Ankara airport on Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, eight Russians held in the west were also returned to Russia.
A total of 26 prisoners were exchanged involving seven nations in a swap deal between Russia and the Western nations, the largest such exchange since the Cold War.
Ten people, including two minors, were relocated to Russia, 13 prisoners to Germany, and three to the US, the report said.
LIVE: Russian government plane lands in Turkish capital amid signs of major prisoner swap https://t.co/0CbRYW6efB
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 1, 2024
German citizen Rico Krieger, imprisoned in Belarus, Russian dissident Ilya Yashin and FSB colonel Vadim Krasikov, jailed in Germany, were also part of the exchange.
A Turkish statement said prisoners from the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Belarus and Russia were involved in the prisoner exchange “carried out” by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) intelligence service.
The swap comes after months of negotiations between Moscow and Washington.
In a video streamed by Reuters, several people were seen disembarking from a plane at Turkey’s Ankara airport and walking onto the tarmac.
There was no official statement by both Kremlin and the White House on the prisoner exchange.
The prisoner swap has been dubbed as the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War, according to Reuters. In the last such exchange in 2010, 14 prisoners were exchanged by both sides.
