There is a massive swap (20+ people) — Russia sets free Putin critics, anti-war activists, journalists and imprisoned foreign citizens. In exchange, they are getting back at least one murderer and several spies and fraudsters.
According to The Insider, “the released political prisoners include Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Paul Whelan, Ilya Yashin, Alsu Kurmasheva, Andrei Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov, Alexandra Skochilenko, Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, Rico Krieger, Kevin Lik, Demuri Voronin, Vadim Ostanin, Patrick Schobel, and Herman Moyzhes.” I wrote about several of them in an earlier diary.
The swap is being reported on by several sources including BBC and CNN, but it is not a done deal yet, and things can go dramatically wrong.
The tension must have been high: a previous attempt to facilitate such an exchange ended with Alexei Navalny’s death. It is also kind of revealing to see who gets traded. On one side, the most prominent person is Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent journalist (Pulitzer prize) and political activist sent to prison in 2022 with a whopping twenty-five year sentence for “treason” (specifically criticism of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine). Putin had also tried poisoning him with the same nerve agent as Navalny. On the other side, the MVP (most valuable prisoner) is Vadim Krasikov, an FSB killer who murdered at least two people in Russia and one in Germany.
Update. Ankara is mentioned as the location for the exchange (www.cbsnews.com/...). Hat tip to DRo — it is Ankara (https://t.me/nexta_live/80562). There is talk of one more person being freed — Rico Krieger, who had been sentenced to death in Belarus for “planting explosives.” Of the people freed, three are going to the US (Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva?), thirteen to Germany.
Will keep updating as more details emerge.
