US-Russia prisoner exchange: biggest since Cold War

President Joe Biden, center, joined by relatives of freed Russian prisoners, in the State Dining Room of the White House on August 1, 2024

The prisoner exchange saw three Americans, five Germans and seven Russian citizens freed from Russian imprisonment

(Image credit: Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

published 2 August 2024

What happened

At least two dozen people, including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and four other Americans, were released from Russian custody on Thursday as part of a massive prisoner exchange involving seven nations and months of negotiations.

Americans Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Paul Whelan were "unjustly imprisoned" and are "finally coming home," President Joe Biden said on Wednesday. Their release was a "feat of diplomacy" that also saw five Germans and seven Russian citizens freed from Russian imprisonment in exchange for eight Russians, including convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov.

The prisoner swap was the "largest and most complex" of its kind "since the Cold War," The Wall Street Journal said. It was the result of an "elaborate web of negotiations behind the scenes" involving seven countries and is a "diplomatic victory for President Biden," The New York Times said. The exchange took place in Turkey, "increasingly familiar grounds for prisoner swaps."

At least eight Americans are "still left behind in Russian detention," The Washington Post said. As part of the conditions for releasing Gershkovich, the reporter was allowed to leave with the "makings of a book he had labored over," the Journal said. He was also required to write a request for clemency from Russia's President Vladimir Putin. In his letter, Gershkovich asked if Putin would be "willing to sit down for an interview."

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.