This morning the excellent news broke that Russia had released Walll Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-marine Paul Whelan, and they are beginning their journey back to the US. While details on this are still emerging, Bloomberg and the Guardian seperately report that the release is part of a larger prisoner exchange with Russia:
Sources with knowledge of the planned exchange confirmed to the Guardian that a major swap would take place on Thursday in a location outside Russia. They declined to make further details public until after the swap had taken place owing to sensitivity of the matter.
Gershkovich and the former US marine Paul Whelan, both accused by Russian authorities of espionage, had already been freed and were en route to a destination outside Russia, Bloomberg reported. The Guardian understands the exchange will also involve Russian political prisoners being freed as well as numerous Russians jailed in the west for espionage, murder and other crimes being returned to Russia.
This is, from just about everyone’s perspective, really exciting news. Gershkovich has been in Russian Custody, slowly moving through sham show trials, for more than a year:
Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while reporting in the city of Ekaterinburg and was last month sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage. He pleaded not guilty and the Wall Street Journal and the US government have dismissed the charges as nonsense.
Beyond the US Negotiating team and the Biden Administration, Gershkocich’s colleagues at the Wall Street Journal who have been keeping his plight in the public space since his capture. Less attention has been paid (at least in recent months) to Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian custody for almost six years. Here are details on his arrest and conviction from Bloomberg:
Whelan was detained by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in a room in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel, near the Kremlin, on Dec. 28, 2018. Investigators said he was a spy for military intelligence with a rank of colonel or higher, and had been caught red-handed with a computer flash drive containing classified information. Whelan said he had been in Russia for a friend’s wedding and had been given the drive in a sting by a Russian friend. He said he had thought it contained holiday photos. After a trial held entirely behind closed doors that U.S. diplomats said was unfair and opaque, Whelan, now 52, was convicted of spying in 2020, and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security jail. He is currently being held in the IK-17 penal colony in the Mordovia region, east of Moscow.
Whelan waited a long time for release during which time he saw Russia exchange other prisoners with the US. He was not part of the 2022 exchange that freed American Basketball Player Brittney Griner from Russian custody.
Today’s a day to celebrate for all involved!
[Update 1: The Insider is reporting some additional details about the trade. In all Russia exchanged 16 prisoners for 8 prisoners held in a variety of countries. Three were behind held by the United States. From The Insider:
Russia has completed a prisoner exchange with the U.S. and Germany. According to data available to The Insider, the released political prisoners include Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Paul Whelan, Ilya Yashin, Alsu Kurmasheva, Andrei Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov, Alexandra Skochilenko, Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, Rico Krieger, Kevin Lik, Demuri Voronin, Vadim Ostanin, Patrick Schobel, and Herman Moyzhes. In return, Russia has received FSB operative Vadim Krasikov, along with multiple spies and fraudsters.
Since Outside the Beltway is a political blog, and I need those sweet paychecks from George Soros to keep coming to me, I think its worth calling out a couple political observations around this release.
1: Paul Whelan was arrested and convicted during the Trump administration. I share this only as a reminder that, despite his instance that he’s tough on Russia and respected by them, Russia was still arresting Americans and putting them through sham trials.
2. American jury trials are nothing like sham trials in Russia. A popular theme in some conservative and right-wing circles is that Former President Trump and many of his followers have been subjected to “Russian-style Sham Trials.” In pulling together this article, I found this BBC deep dive into Paul Whelan’s case, which included this moment:
On 15 June, it took the chief judge just 1 minute 20 seconds to reach the key words in his verdict.
“Moscow City Court…finds Paul Nicholas Whelan guilty,” he read from the typed sheet, adding that the 16-year sentence would be served in a high-security facility for the most dangerous offenders.
The judge then turned to address the defendant, who was standing in a glass cage guarded by two FSB security officers in black balaclavas. Watching from the wooden courtroom benches, socially distanced and in medical facemasks, were the ambassadors of the US, UK and Canada.
“Whelan, do you understand the sentence?” he asked.
The American, whose glasses, side parting and blue sweater that he wore to each court appearance gave him the look of a neat, middle-aged librarian, looked back at the judge blankly.
His Russian wasn’t up to this.
“Nothing’s translated, Your Honour,” the 50-year-old protested, sending an interpreter scurrying over to explain his fate. The three judges swept off the podium and out of court.
3. Former President Trump campaigned on the promise that only he could get Gershkovich released. Take this comment from just two weeks ago on July 20th:
“Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was just sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Russian Court. Biden will NEVER GET HIM OUT, unless he pays a ‘king’s ransom.’” Trump posted to his Truth Social site.
“I will get him out FOR NO COMPENSATION immediately following our victory on November 5th, and it will be my great honor to do so,” he wrote, adding that people should vote for him, and the Journal should “STOP BEING STUPID!!!”
I expect that Trump will declare this “the worst deal ever.” First, I don’t think Gershlovich and Whelan would agree with that. Second, getting 16 prisoners in return for giving up 8 seems like a good deal to me. That said, I guess he could argue that the US gave up 3 and only got 2 in return, but that doesn’t feel catchy. Of course he could claim that he would have been able to get them back without giving up any prisoners–if you believe that, well, you’re probably not reading this by now. In the end this does rob him on a favorite talking point.
[Update 2: So the Trump camp spin appears to be that Putin released this hostages because he’s afriad that Trump will be elected in November and therefore wants to get this done now. It feels a little underwear gnomes to me, but maybe this dog will hunt with some folks.
