Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were among 16 people freed from Russian detention on Thursday as part of biggest prisoner exchange between the West and Russia in decades, and the first involving the U.S. since WNBA star Brittney Griner was released in late 2022. The 24-person multi-country prisoner swap happened in Ankara, according to the Turkish government. Here’s what we know about who was released by Russia and who they got back in return.
Who was freed from Russia
According to various reports, these people have been released:
Evan Gershkovich
The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter had been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023 and was accused of espionage — an allegation he, the Journal, and the U.S. all deny — and whose unfair treatment has been widely publicized by the Journal and many other publications.
Paul Whelan
A 54-year-old former U.S. Marine who was detained at a hotel in Moscow in 2018 and was also accused of espionage — which the his family and the U.S. also deny. He was convicted and in 2020 sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Alsu Kurmasheva
The 47-year-old Russian-American journalist was working as an editor for Radio Free Europe in Prague when she was arrested in 2023 after returning to Russia to visit her ailing mother.
Ilya Yashin
The prominent 41-year-old Russian dissident worked with opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov. He was serving a 8 and a half year prison sentence for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
Vladimir Kara-Murza
A 42-year-old Russian-British activist, filmmaker, and journalist who has been a vocal critic of the Kremlin. The prominent Russian opposition figure was arrested over his criticism of the war in Ukraine after returning to the country in 2022. He has been writing columns for the Washington Post from prison.
Oleg Orlov
An 71-year-old activist who is co-chair of the Russian human rights group Memorial.
Lilia Chanysheva
A 42-year-old former accounting analyst who worked to expose corruption in the republic of Bashkortostan, and ran Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny office there. She was convicted on extremism charges last year and is being sent to Germany as part of the deal.
Ksenia Fadeyeva
A 32-year-old Russian dissident who was a member of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s staff. She had been detained since 2021, and is now being sent to Germany as part of the deal.
Rico Krieger
A German national who had been sentenced to death in Belarus after being accused of terrorism.
Who Russia got back
Here are who has been identified in news reports so far.
Vadim Krasikov
An alleged Russian spy and convicted assassin who was serving a life sentence in Germany after murdering a former Chechen separatist Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin in 2019. The assassination was carried out on the Kremlin’s orders, according to German prosecutors.
Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva
A Russian couple in Slovenia who posed as Argentinean expats and were arrested by Slovenian authorities in late 2022 on espionage charges, which they later pled guilty to.
Vladislav Klyushin
A 42-year-old Russian businessman who was convicted in the U.S. for his involvement in a $93 million insider trading scheme. He was sentenced to nine years in federal prison in September.
Vadim Konoshchenok
A Russian with alleged links to the FSB who was facing charges in the U.S. over smuggling ammunition and electronics from the U.S. to Russia to support its war in Ukraine.
Roman Seleznev
A Russian hacker who was convicted in the U.S. in 2016 for a cyberattack on thousands of U.S. businesses. He was serving a 27-year sentence in federal prison.
