Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan were among 16 freed from Russia in the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War.
Russian authorities detained American Paul Whelan in December 2018 on espionage charges. A Russian court found him guilty and sentenced him in June 2020 to 16 years in a maximum security prison colony after a closed-door trial.
Evan Gershkovich was also detained in March 2023 on allegations of spying on a Russian tank production and repair facility. In his last article for The Wall Street Journal, published the day before his arrest, Gershkovich pointed to signs that Russia’s economy was faltering as it worked to boost production of military equipment for the war in Ukraine.
A Russian court found Gershkovich guilty last month after a closed-door trial and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security prison colony.
Whelan and Gershkovich both denied the spying charges.
Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American dual citizen, traveled to Russia in May of last year to deal with a family emergency. Russian authorities detained her and confiscated both her U.S. and Russian passports as she attempted to leave the country in June 2023.
Russian authorities charged Kurmasheva in October 2023 with working as an unregistered foreign agent and collecting information that could harm Russian national security. Radio Free Europe receives funding from the U.S. government through grants administered by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
Russian authorities later charged Kurmasheva with spreading “false information” about the Russian military. A Russian court found her guilty on the charges of spreading false information and sentenced her to six and a half years in prison. Kurmasheva’s family, her employer, and the U.S. government dismissed the claims against her.
By Ryan Morgan
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