Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan part of larger prisoner swap with Russia

( NewsNation ) — Two Americans imprisoned on espionage convictions have been released to the U.S. as part of an agreed larger prisoner swap with Russia, according to multiple reports.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were released into U.S. custody after spending 16 months and more than 5 1/2 years, respectively, behind bars in Russia.

“Paul, after more than five years, we finally get to say, welcome home,” Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., posted to X on Thursday . “Justice has prevailed and today, an innocent man is free. God Bless America.”

The historic prisoner swap included 26 people and cooperation from seven countries: Russia, the U.S., Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus, a Turkish security source told CNN .

“The return of Michigander Paul Whelan, along with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and others, is tremendous news,” Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said .

While many are celebrating the return of Gershkovich and Whelan, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul expressed concern over the practice of swapping prisoners at all.

“Continuing to trade innocent Americans for actual Russian criminals held in the U.S. and elsewhere sends a dangerous message to Putin that only encourages further hostage-taking by his regime,” McCaul said in a statement on Thursday.

Inside the prisoner swap with Russia

The trade followed years of secretive back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Individuals were transported to Turkey on seven different planes, CNN reported.

According to multiple reports , the Turkish presidency said 10 prisoners, including two minors, were relocated to Russia, 13 were relocated to Germany and three to the U.S. NewsNation has not yet independently confirmed this information.

Speculation about the swap began Tuesday when many of the prisoners were being moved from their holding cells and transferred.

Details of who the U.S. may be sending back to Russia, or who else may have been freed, are not yet known. A Turkish intelligence agency said it was coordinating the extensive prisoner swap Thursday at Ankara Esenboga Airport, Reuters reported.

The largest prisoner swap since the Cold War took place in 2010, involving 14 people in total.

Evan Gershkovich convicted in July

Gershkovich was convicted last month of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison on charges that his employer and the U.S. government have rejected as fabricated.

Gershkovich was in Russia on a reporting trip in March 2023 when he was arrested and accused of espionage.

Russia alleged Gershkovich was “gathering secret information” at the CIA’s behest about a facility that produces and repairs military equipment. It provided no evidence to support the accusations.

Gershkovich was the first American reporter to be detained in Russia on espionage charges since the Cold War.

Fight to bring Paul Whelan home

Whelan, who was originally arrested over spying allegations, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.

The 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan was arrested in 2018 in Moscow where he was attending a friend’s wedding. He has maintained his innocence, saying the charges were fabricated.

Whelan’s family refused to let him be forgotten and were relentless in visiting and calling officials in Washington to get the former Marine home.

His family became even more concerned for Whelan late last year after he was attacked in a prison workshop by other inmates. The attacking prisoner allegedly punched him in the face, breaking his glasses.

Whelan previously endured violence when he was in pretrial detention in Moscow at the hands of a guard who was later reprimanded for that. He has also endured verbal abuse at the labor camp that he was assigned to.

He was left out of a prisoner exchange in April 2022 that brought home yet another detainee, Marine veteran Trevor Reed . That swap escalated pressure on the Biden administration to avoid another one-for-one swap that didn’t include Whelan.

That pressure grew when basketball star Brittney Griner was detained for having vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. She was sentenced to nine years in prison but was eventually freed in December 2022 during another one-on-one prisoner exchange with Russia for arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S.

When the swap didn’t include Whelan, it sparked outrage among his family and supporters.

Americans detained in Russia

Other U.S. nationals behind bars in Russia include former school teacher Marc Fogel, convicted for possessing marijuana, which he said he used for medical reasons.

Arrests of Americans are increasingly common in Russia, especially since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan’s unjust imprisonment as hostages is yet another sobering reminder of how evil the Putin regime really is,” Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., wrote in response to the news of their release.

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The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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