Russia agrees to free Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan in multi-country prisoner swap
Written by ABC AUDIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on August 1, 2024
(NEW YORK) — Russia and the United States have agreed to swap prisoners in an extraordinary multipart deal, according to senior Biden administration official.
The swap will allow the two wrongfully detained American citizens held by Moscow, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, to return home.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested by Russian authorities in March 2023 for espionage, a charge he and U.S. officials flatly deny, with President Joe Biden saying Gershkovich was targeted for being a journalist and an American.
After an unusually hasty trial that played out behind closed doors, Gershkovich was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.
Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was arrested in December 2018 while traveling on an American passport in Russia and also accused of espionage.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations denied the allegation against Whelan. He was convicted on the charges in June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison, ultimately serving five.
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