The process of exchanging 24 prisoners and two children between the US and Russia in the Turkish capital Ankara has been completed, a source from the Turkish security forces, quoted by Reuters, announced this evening, BTA writes.
The United States and four of its allies have reached a deal with Russia for the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War. It includes the release of 16 people, including the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, the White House announced earlier today, quoted by world agencies.
The Biden administration negotiated the complex deal with Russia and several other countries agreeing to send eight prisoners serving sentences in the West back to Russia.
Among them is Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a Chechen-Georgian dissident in Berlin.
US President Joe Biden described the exchange as a "diplomatic feat". "Some of these women and some of these men were unjustly detained for years. They all experienced unimaginable suffering. Their agony is over today," Biden said.
The deal has been negotiated in secret for more than a year and represents a major achievement. It will be touted later today by the Biden administration as a political success as the US presidential race enters its final phase.
The prisoners released today include three US citizens and one legal resident: Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsou Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Twelve German citizens and Russian political prisoners will return to Germany: Dieter Voronin, Kevin Leek, Rico Krieger, Patrick Schoebel, Herman Moyges, Ilya Yashin, Lilia Chanisheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, Vadim Ostanin, Andrey Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov, Sasha Skochilenko.
The eight people returning to Russia are: Vadim Krasikov (from Germany), Artyom Viktorovich Dultsev (from Slovenia), Anna Valerievna Dultseva (from Slovenia), Mikhail Valerievich Mikushin (from Norway), Pavel Alekseevich Rubtsov (from Poland), Roman Selezniev (from the USA), Vladislav Klyushin (from the USA), Vadim Konoshchenok (from the USA).
In total, the deal includes the release of 16 people held in Russia in exchange for 8 people held in the United States, Germany, Norway, Slovenia, Poland, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
The American president is scheduled to meet with the families of the released Americans at the White House.
Washington continues its efforts to obtain the release of the teacher Mark Fogle, said a senior representative of the US administration.
Biden also said he has not had to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the swap.
Turkish intelligence service MIT said it brokered the swap deal. MIT called the exchange operation, which took place at Ankara airport, the “most extensive prisoner exchange between the US, Russia and Germany in recent years.
As part of the operation, the prisoners were transported to Turkey on seven planes: two from the US and one each from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia.
Ten prisoners, including two minors, were sent to Russia, thirteen prisoners – in Germany, three prisoners – in the US.
So far, the largest exchange of agents between the East and the West took place in June 1985, recalls the Associated Press. Then Marian Zaharski, a former Polish intelligence officer convicted of espionage against the US, was exchanged along with three other Eastern Bloc agents for 23 Westerners jailed for espionage in the Warsaw Pact countries.
The exchange takes place on the Glienicke Bridge, on the border between East and West Berlin, called the Bridge of Spies, and is the result of negotiations lasting three years.