New Delhi. The world sees America and Russia as arch enemies. But after a long time, both the countries have exchanged prisoners. These include Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich, Marine’s Paul Wellan and Russian-American radio journalist Alsou Kurmasheva, who were imprisoned in Russia. Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in prison a few days ago on charges of espionage.
The Turkish President’s Office said that this is the largest exchange of prisoners between the US and Russia since the days of the Cold War. At least 26 prisoners were released under this agreement. A statement issued by Turkey said that the exchange, carried out by Turkey’s MIT intelligence service, included prisoners from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Belarus and Russia. Wall Street Journal journalist Gershkovich was released just weeks after a Russian court sentenced him to 16 years in prison on charges of espionage. Also, former US Marine Paul Whelan was detained in Russia on similar charges. The US called the charges against both of them fabricated.
10 Russian prisoners were handed over to them
The Turkish Presidency said that 10 Russian prisoners have been handed over to them. These include 2 minors. 13 prisoners have been sent to Germany and three to America. Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MIT) said, we played a major mediating role in this operation. Russia’s special plane was used for the exchange of prisoners. Shortly before this, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel had said, “I do not want to speculate at the moment. All I can say is that America is ready to bring back its citizens who have been wrongly detained.”
Who are the Russians who have been released?
There were 4 Russian prisoners in America, whose names are Vinnik, Maxim Marchenko, Vadim Konoshchenok and Vladislav Klushin. However, no further information has been given about them. Alexander Vinnik’s lawyer said, we cannot tell anything about them until they come home. The biggest prisoner exchange between America and Russia took place in 2010, when 10 people were arrested in America on charges of spying for Russia. After this, these 10 prisoners were exchanged with four prisoners at Vienna airport.
Tags: Russia News, US News
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 1, 2024, 22:06 IST