Beyond Paul Whelan, who else was released in the US-Russia prisoner swap

Four U.S. residents were released by Russia on Thursday as part of the biggest East-West prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War.

In an address to the nation from the White House after securing the U.S. prisoners’ release, President Joe Biden said that their “brutal ordeal is over.”

“Today, three American citizens and one American green card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza,” Biden said. “Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over.”

Who is Evan Gershkovich?

Gershkovich is an American journalist at the Wall Street Journal who covers Russia and Ukraine and is a former national of the Soviet Union. He was based in the newspaper’s Moscow bureau and had accreditation from the Russian Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist in the country.

Arrested in March 2023 during a time of heightened tensions between the West and Russia over the war in Ukraine, Gershkovich was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges, convictions which he, the Journal, and the U.S. government denied.

After his sentencing, Biden said in a statement that Russia was “wrongfully detaining Evan” and that the government “will not cease in our efforts to bring him home.”

By the time of his release, he had been held in Russia for 17 months.

Who is Paul Whelan?

Whelan was born in March 1970 in Ottawa, Ontario, and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He worked as a police officer in Chelsea, Michigan, for over a decade before he joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.

He received a bad-conduct discharge from the Marines after he was convicted in a special court-martial of attempting to steal more than $10,000 while at Al Asad Airbase in Iraq.

He was arrested in Russia on Dec. 28, 2018, on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor at the end of a closed-door trial. At the time of his arrest, Whelan was the head of global security for BorgWarner, a Michigan-based auto supply company.

The Russian Foreign Ministry alleged that Whelan was caught “red-handed” in an act of espionage, while Whelan insisted that the government set him up.

Who is Alsu Kurmasheva?

Kurmasheva is a Russian American journalist for the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. She holds citizenship in Russia and the U.S. and lives with her husband and two children in Prague.

Kurmasheva had traveled to Russia in May of 2023 for a family emergency. On her way home, she was detained initially for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities. In October, she was then detained for failing to register as a foreign agent. If found guilty, she would face up to five years in prison.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called the charges against Kurmasheva “spurious” and “more proof that Russia is determined to stifle independent reporting.” Her employer called for her return. She was the second U.S. journalist after Gershkovich to be detained in Russia since the start of the Ukraine War.

Who is Vladimir Kara-Murza?

Kara-Murza is a journalist and prominent Putin critic. He is Russian-born but has dual citizenship with the U.K. and is a U.S. green card holder.

Kara-Murza had been imprisoned since 2022 on charges of treason and spreading false information about the Russian military, which he has rejected. In 2023, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

A longtime opposition activist, Kara-Murza survived two poisoning attempts he blamed on the Kremlin.

Other prisoners released today

In total, 24 prisoners were released – an exchange that came after months of negotiations and is a rare moment of cooperation between Russia and the West. It is the largest prisoner swap with Russia since 2010 when 14 people were involved.

Russia released 16 individuals in exchange for eight people held in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia, and Poland. In addition to the four U.S. residents, Russia released five German citizens and seven Russian citizens. One of the concessions to Russia was Germany’s release of Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov.

Contributed: Kristen Jordan Shamus, Kinsey Crowley, Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Christopher Cann, Jorge L. Ortiz, Michael Collins, Francesca Chambers and Joey Garrison .

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Beyond Paul Whelan, who else was released in the US-Russia prisoner swap