٠٠:٠٠:٢٠Mandatory credit: @POTUS
An image shared by the Biden administration on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday shows three American citizens aboard a plane bound for the United States after an unprecedented prisoner swap with Russia.
Footage shows Wall Street Journalist writer Evan Gershkovich, former US marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva alongside others in a plane.
Gershkovich and Whelan were arrested in Russia in March 2023 and December 2018, respectively.
On June 19, Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a strict penal colony on espionage charges. Whelan was found guilty in June 2020 on charges of espionage and was also sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Alsu Kurmasheva was convicted of spreading false information about the Russian military and sentenced to six and a half years in prison in July 2022.
The three were part of a historic prisoner swap between Moscow and five Western countries, announced on Thursday, with 26 detainees released and returned to their countries. In addition, American green card holder and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was also granted freedom and flown to Germany.
Sixteen prisoners held in Russia and ten people, including two minors, in the US, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia were released from jails as a part of the exchange.
Gershkovich and Whelan aboard flight to US after biggest West-Russia prisoner swap since Cold War *STILL*
An image shared by the Biden administration on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday shows three American citizens aboard a plane bound for the United States after an unprecedented prisoner swap with Russia.
Footage shows Wall Street Journalist writer Evan Gershkovich, former US marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva alongside others in a plane.
Gershkovich and Whelan were arrested in Russia in March 2023 and December 2018, respectively.
On June 19, Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a strict penal colony on espionage charges. Whelan was found guilty in June 2020 on charges of espionage and was also sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Alsu Kurmasheva was convicted of spreading false information about the Russian military and sentenced to six and a half years in prison in July 2022.
The three were part of a historic prisoner swap between Moscow and five Western countries, announced on Thursday, with 26 detainees released and returned to their countries. In addition, American green card holder and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was also granted freedom and flown to Germany.
Sixteen prisoners held in Russia and ten people, including two minors, in the US, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia were released from jails as a part of the exchange.
Mandatory credit: @POTUS
An image shared by the Biden administration on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday shows three American citizens aboard a plane bound for the United States after an unprecedented prisoner swap with Russia.
Footage shows Wall Street Journalist writer Evan Gershkovich, former US marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva alongside others in a plane.
Gershkovich and Whelan were arrested in Russia in March 2023 and December 2018, respectively.
On June 19, Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a strict penal colony on espionage charges. Whelan was found guilty in June 2020 on charges of espionage and was also sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Alsu Kurmasheva was convicted of spreading false information about the Russian military and sentenced to six and a half years in prison in July 2022.
The three were part of a historic prisoner swap between Moscow and five Western countries, announced on Thursday, with 26 detainees released and returned to their countries. In addition, American green card holder and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was also granted freedom and flown to Germany.
Sixteen prisoners held in Russia and ten people, including two minors, in the US, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia were released from jails as a part of the exchange.