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– US journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan were released from Russia Thursday, the Turkish government announced, in one of the biggest East-West prisoner swaps since the Cold War.
A total of 26 people, including two minors, from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Belarus and Russia were involved in the swap “carried out” by Turkey’s MIT intelligence service, Turkey’s presidency said.
There was no immediate confirmation from US officials, although the swap was widely reported by US television networks. The Kremlin declined to comment on any exchange.
Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, 32, was detained in Russia in March 2023 and convicted in July on spying charges in a fast-track trial denounced as a sham by the United States.
