(MENAFN- Live Mint) Turkey announced a major prisoner swap on Thursday, involving Russia, Belarus, and five Western countries. Among the 26 prisoners released in Ankara were US reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan. Evan Gershkovich was released just a few days after he was sentenced by a Russian court to 16 years in prison for espionage.
Turkey also said that it was the“most extensive prisoner exchange between the United States, Russia, and Germany in recent years.”
In return for the prisoner swap, 10 Russians that included two minors were handed over to Moscow, said a statement released by the Turkish presidency. Among the prisoners was Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin who was jailed for criticising Russia war on Ukraine.
Thirteen of the detainees freed by Russia went to Germany and three to the United States. All prisoners were transported to Ankara from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Belarus and Russia.
“The prisoners were transported to Turkey by a total of seven aircraft, including two from the United States and one each from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Russia, as part of the prisoner exchange operation,” the statement read, adding,“All the prisoners have been disembarked and put in a safe place under the supervision of the MIT.”
Evan Gershkovich was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the US. The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, he moved to the country in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the Journal in 2022.
For the final six months of his term, President Joe Biden has prioritized securing the release of Americans wrongfully detained abroad, making it a central focus of his foreign policy agenda.
In his Oval Office address to the American people discussing his recent decision to drop his bid for a second term, he had said,“We're also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.”
After the major prisoner swap, President Joe Biden said it was a feat of democracy.
(With AFP and PTI inputs)
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