Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. marine Paul Whelan are expected to be released in a historic prisoner exchange with Russia, according to multiple news reports.
Whelan was arrested in 2018 and later convicted of spying, charges that he, his family and the U.S. deny. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The U.S. government designated him “wrongfully detained” but had failed to secure his release in earlier prisoner exchanges that saw the release of American Trevor Reed and WNBA star Brittney Griner, who were released in separate exchanges in 2022.
Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in March 2023 and accused of collecting state secrets on the Russian military on behalf of the U.S. government. He became the first American journalist to be detained in Russia since the Cold War and was sentenced in July to 16 years in prison.
Bloomberg was the first to report on the release, citing unnamed sources.
The Biden administration, press freedom groups and Gershkovich’s employer had all called for his release and dismissed the charges as fabricated.
Biden had previously said he was willing to agree to a prisoner swap in order to free Gershkovich, a tactic he had used before to secure the release of Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout — known as the “Merchant of Death.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated in a February interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he would be open to a prisoner exchange, and there had speculation that Moscow wants the return of Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a Georgian citizen who fought against Russia in Chechnya.
Bloomberg also reported that Vladimir Kara-Murza, a U.S. resident and husband to an American citizen, is also part of the exchange. Kara-Murza is a prominent Russian opposition politician who was arrested in 2022 and sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of treason and spreading disinformation about the Russian military related to its war in Ukraine.