A major prisoner swap between Russia, the United States and their allies was held at Ankara airport on Thursday under the coordination of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).
The intelligence agency said in a statement:
Our organisation has undertaken a major mediation role in this exchange operation, which is the most comprehensive of the recent period.
In further comments, the MIT said it “conducted the most extensive prisoner swap operation in recent times.”
MIT said, naming five people, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan, who were imprisoned in Russia:
The prisoner swap involved the exchange of significant figures that all parties have been seeking for an extended period of time.
Russia also released Kevin Lik, a Russian-German citizen convicted last year of treason for filming military units in Maikop, and another German citizen, Patrick Schobel, who was detained at Pulkovo airport for carrying marijuana marmalade.
Several Russian political activists detained in recent years on various charges have also came to the US. Ilya Yashin former head of the Krasnoselsky municipal district in Moscow, opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva and Vadim Ostanin former heads of Navalny’s Headquarters, Andrei Pivovarov former head of Open Russia, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva employee of the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Liberty, artist Alexandra Skochilenko, St. Petersburg lawyer German Moyzhes and political scientist Demuri Voronin are among the released.
DW reported that Vadim Krasikov, identified by German officials as a Russian FSB intelligence colonel serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 murder of a Kremlin opponent in a Berlin park, was among those flown to Ankara for the exchange.
Seven planes flew the 26 people to Turkey, MIT said. Two of the planes came from the United States, and one each from Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Norway.
The prisoners were taken off each plane and then transported by MIT to secure locations. They were then medically screened as part of a checklist designed to ensure that each part of the swap deal met ratification requirements. After that, they were put back on planes to travel to their destinations.
The former prisoners received a warm welcome in Russia and were greeted as true heroes. Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, accused of espionage, Mikhail Mikushin, a researcher at the University of Tromsø who was arrested on espionage charges in October 2022, journalist Pavel Rubtsov, Vadim Konoshchenok, accused of collecting data on behalf of the FSB and smuggling dual-use technology, Vladislav Klyushin, serving a sentence from 2023 on cyber fraud charges and Roman Seleznev, accused of cyber fraud, returned to their homeland.
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to present those released as part of the exchange who “have a direct relation to military service” with state awards.
US President Joe Biden said the swap deal was possible thanks to “feats of diplomacy and friendship.” He thanked Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey for helping to broker the deal.
Which side benefited more from the prisoner swap is a rather controversial issue. It is very important that the swap took place now and not after the US presidential election. Despite numerous attempts by the media to convince the public that the gap between Harris and Biden is quite small, she is still in a very precarious position.
By organising the exchange now, Putin has played along with one of the candidates just when this candidate needed support. This suggests that the Democratic Party’s destructive course, which benefits Russia, does not strengthen American hegemony, but rather discredits it. Kamala Harris will undoubtedly continue on this course, and even though she, like all Democrats, supports continued aid to Ukraine, she will be a more favourable candidate for Russia than Donald Trump.
Answering the question of “who is better for Russia – Biden or Trump” in an interview with Tucker Carlson in February, Putin chose Biden. He said:
He is a man more experienced, more predictable, he is a politician of the old formation.
As part of the exchange, patriots who had served their country faithfully returned to Russia. In return, Moscow got rid of oppositionists who were harming the state from within, undermining the image and authority of the government.
The recent prisoner exchange between the US and Russia appears to be an underlying plan by Vladimir Putin that will have positive implications for Russia’s role on the world stage.
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Bill Galston for Head-Post.com
