Russia to free U.S. Marine vet Paul Whelan and reporter Evan Gershkovich in prisoner swap

Ellise Shafer
Variety Entertainment News Service
Variety

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is set to be released from Russian jail on Thursday as part of a multi-country prisoner exchange deal.

According to the BBC, a senior U.S. official confirmed that the Biden administration had reached a deal to free three U.S. citizens imprisoned in Russia: Gershkovich, U.S. Marine vet Paul Whelan and Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.

The exchange is believed to involve 24 prisoners in the U.S., Russia, Germany and three other Western Countries, the BBC reported.

Gershkovich and Whelan had both been jailed on espionage charges that they and the U.S. had vehemently denied. After being arrested in March 2023, Gershkovich was sentenced last month to 16 years in prison after pleading not guilty to the charges. He had been reporting on the ground in Russia, but had received press credentials from Russia’s foreign ministry. Whelan was arrested in December 2018 after arriving in Moscow to attend the wedding of a fellow former Marine, and was also sentenced to 16 years in prison. Kurmasheva, meanwhile, was arrested in October 2023 on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and spreading false information about the Russian army. She was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.

The Committee to Protect Journalists released a statement following reports of Gershkovich and Kurmasheva’s release, saying: “They were detained and sentenced on spurious charges intended to punish them for their journalism and stifle independent reporting. Their reported release is welcome – but it does not change the fact that Russia continues to suppress a free press. Moscow needs to release all jailed journalists and end its campaign of using in absentia arrest warrants and sentences against exiled Russian journalists.”

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