In a massive overnight night development, Russia has released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan in a prisoner swap, Bloomberg and others confirm.
Some sources are saying that as many as 20 and 30 political prisoners and journalists might be part of a multi-country exchange reportedly in progress, but what's certain is that Gershkovich and Whelan are currently on their way to freedom.
"The men, jailed in Russia on espionage charges they and the US deny, are en route to destinations outside of Russia," reports Bloomberg. "The US and its allies will return prisoners to Russia that they hold under the deal, the people said, asking for anonymity to discuss matters that aren’t yet public."
And The Moscow Times speculated overnight as rumors swirled of an impending major deal with Moscow, "Russia may be preparing to free between 20 and 30 political prisoners and journalists in an imminent exchange with the United States and Germany, a source familiar with the planning said, in what, if confirmed, would be the largest swap since the end of the Cold War." However, these latter details have yet to be confirmed. It is also as yet unclear who on the Russian side is being freed.
Only very recently, on July 19, a Yekaterinburg handed down a very significant 16-year prison sentence in Gershkovich's espionage case, after he had been behind bars since is March 2023 arrest.
Russian authorities claim he was spying for the CIA while investigating a major Russian defense company in Yekaterinburg, a city which lies east of the Ural Mountains.
It is widely believed that Russia was using the case as a bargaining chip all along, in order to free high level Russian detainees in the West, just like the prisoner swap involving Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout played out.
As for Marine veteran Paul Whelan, who was issued a 16-year sentence in 2020 on charges of espionage - which the US government condemned as false and unfair - his family had long complained that his case didn't get the attention from Washington that it deserved. But his fate appears to have suddenly and drastically changed for the better.
Could it be that Tucker Carlson's big interview with President Vladimir Putin had a part to play, or got the ball rolling in the prisoner deal?
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