Turkey: Large-Scale Prisoner Exchange Between USA and Russia
The operation, involving 26 people detained in seven countries, was coordinated by the Turkish Special Service
The largest prisoner exchange in history took place on the evening of Thursday, August 1, in Turkey. The exchange was carried out at Esenboga airport, northeast of the Turkish capital Ankara, under the coordination of the Turkish Intelligence Agency (MIT). Neither the USA nor Russia wanted to comment on the operation, but according to some “well-informed” sources, Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, both charged in Russia with espionage and both sentenced to 16 years in prison, were also involved.
“A prisoner exchange operation took place today under the coordination of our organization,” the MIT said, as quoted by the Turkish press. “We played an important mediating role in this operation, which is the biggest in recent times,” the Ankara intelligence official added.
The prisoner exchange between the USA and Russia, brokered by Turkey, involved a total of 26 people and seven countries: USA, Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Belarus. Turkey’s Anadolu news agency wrote that 10 people, including two minors, were transferred in the course of the operation to Russia, 13 to Germany and three to the United States. In addition to Gershkovich and Whelan, German mercenary Rico Krieger, captured in Ukraine, and Russian oppositionists Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza were included in the prisoner exchange. Some members of the Security Service (FSB) have returned to Russia, including Vadim Krasikov, sentenced to life in Germany on charges of killing former Chechen separatist commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili. In February 2024, in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin, without naming him, called him a “true patriot” of his country.
