Russia frees US reporter Evan Gershkovich in biggest East-West prisoner swap since Cold War

ANKARA, Turkey – US journalist Evan Gershkovich and a Russian intelligence colonel jailed for a Berlin killing are among 24 prisoners and two minors freed today in the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, officials say.

The 24 were brought to Ankara from Russia, the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus under the deal that Turkey says its MIT intelligence service has spent weeks putting together.

Ten Russians, including two minors, were exchanged for 16 Westerners and Russians detained in Russia, according to a statement released by the Turkish presidency.

US President Joe Biden calls the deal “a feat of diplomacy.”

“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” Biden adds in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal says it is “overwhelmed with relief” at the release of Gershkovich, 32, who was detained in Russia in March 2023 and jailed in July, sentenced to 16 years on spying charges that were denounced by the United States.

Hopes for a prisoner exchange had risen in recent days after a number of high-profile prisoners in Russia, including Whelan, went missing from facilities where they were serving terms, fueling speculation they were being moved for a swap.

This was the first exchange between Russia and the West since star US basketball player Brittney Griner returned home in return for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December 2022 and the biggest since 2010, when 14 alleged spies were exchanged.

Before then, major swaps involving more than a dozen people had only taken place during the Cold War, with Soviet and Western powers carrying out exchanges in 1985 and 1986.