By: Jerry Zhang
On Thursday, August 1, 2024, 24 individuals were exchanged between Russia and some Western countries. In total, Russia released 16 people, including Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine, as well as others from Germany and other Western nations. At the same time, the U.S. and its allies freed eight individuals: Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin, Vladislav Klyushin, a hacker, and several others. Yet, hundreds still remain in Russian captivity, awaiting their release.
One of the individuals released by Russia is Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who worked as a correspondent in Moscow. In March 2023, Russian security forces detained him on charges of espionage. Russian prosecutors alleged that he collected classified information about the Uralvagonzavod military factory under the orders of the CIA. However, the White House stated that the charges were entirely fabricated and declared him wrongfully detained.
Another individual released is Paul Whelan, who had been detained in Russia since 2018. During a visit for a wedding that year, the Russian Federal Security Service arrested him on charges of espionage, allegedly catching him “red-handed” during a mission to retrieve a flash drive with classified information. Mr. Whelan has vehemently denied these charges, maintaining that the flash drive contained only family photos. The U.S. government has supported his claim and declared him wrongfully detained.
Vadim Krasikov, one of the individuals released by Germany, was serving a life sentence for the murder of former Chechen fighter Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in a Berlin park. Operating under the alias “Vadim Sokolov,” Krasikov tailed Khangoshvili before shooting him three times. He was also accused of a similar murder in Moscow in 2013, but those charges were withdrawn. Krasikov received a warm welcome from Russian President Putin, who greeted him with a hug as he was the first to disembark the plane.
Vladislav Klyushin, a Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin, is another prisoner released in the exchange. Arrested in Switzerland in 2021 for participating in a $93 million insider trading scheme that involved hacking corporate computers, he was sentenced to nine years in a U.S. prison in September 2023. Klyushin reportedly stole $34 million for himself from the scheme.
Even though many were freed from this prisoner exchange, many are still remaining in Russia. Marc Fogel, a teacher at the Anglo-American School of Moscow with 27 years of overseas teaching experience, almost didn’t return to Russia in 2021 after nearly a decade at the school. However, he and his wife, Jane, decided to spend one more year in Moscow before retiring. Upon returning from summer break in August 2021, Fogel was arrested at the airport and charged with smuggling a small quantity of cannabis, which was prescribed for his back pain in the United States but is banned in Russia, receiving a 14-year jail sentence.
Russia may have benefited the most from this exchange by trading innocent civilians for criminals who could potentially help the country through espionage or cyber-attacks. Almost all of the individuals Russia received were either convicted of espionage, fraud, or murder, while at most, the people the U.S. received were Russian dissidents against Putin’s regime, journalists, or wrongfully convicted civilians.[1]
This prisoner exchange on Thursday marks a significant diplomatic event, with 24 individuals exchanged, making it the largest swap since the Cold War. We can hope that in the future, the geopolitical tensions will ease, allowing the remaining captives, such as Marc Fogel, to return to their families and homes.