Biden Administration Negotiates Release of Evan Gershkovich and Others
As many outlets have been reporting since dawn my time, there has been a massive prisoner exchange between the US, Russia, and five European allies.
President Biden issued this release, emphasizing the import of allies.
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.
The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy. All told, we’ve negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia—including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over.
I am grateful to our Allies who stood with us throughout tough, complex negotiations to achieve this outcome— including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey. This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon. Our alliances make Americans safer.
And let me be clear: I will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family. My Administration has now brought home over 70 such Americans, many of whom were in captivity since before I took office. Still, too many families are suffering and separated from their loved ones, and I have no higher priority as President than bringing those Americans home.
Today, we celebrate the return of Paul, Evan, Alsu, and Vladimir and rejoice with their families. We remember all those still wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world. And reaffirm our pledge to their families: We see you. We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring your loved ones home where they belong.
WSJ has a very long story about the lead-up to this release, focused on Gershkovich’s mother’s activism.
The Insider has a list of all the people exchanged, which include an assassin, two spies caught in Slovenia, and three people prosecuted in the US.
Readers of this blow will remember Putin associate, Vladislav Klyushin, who conspired with the former GRU hacker who targeted John Podesta in an insider trading scheme.
On September 7, 2023, a court in Boston, Massachusetts, found the Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin guilty of insider trading and sentenced him to nine years in prison.
Klyushin was arrested in Switzerland in March 2021 and later extradited to the U.S. He was accused of participating in a scheme that involved the illegal use of confidential information for financial gain in the securities market. According to the indictment, the insider trading scheme, orchestrated outside the U.S., generated $93 million in profits for its participants.
Here’s a post I did on how they found Klyushin.