US-Russian prisoner swap including Evan Gershkovich completed in Turkey

ANKARA — A long-sought US-Russian prisoner swap involving more than two dozen people, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, took place in the Turkish capital on Thursday, Turkish government officials announced.

“Twenty-six individuals in prisons from seven countries were exchanged in Ankara, owing to the strong intelligence diplomacy of our MIT Directorate,” spokesperson for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party Omer Celik said, using the acronym of the Turkish Intelligence Organization.

In addition to Gershkovich, who was imprisoned in Russia for more than a year, the freed Americans included journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American who works for the US government-funded Radio Free Europe, former US Marine Paul Whelan and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, who holds US residency.

“Today, three American citizens and one American green card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza,” President Joe Biden said in a statement after the swap.

Biden personally thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for “Turkey’s efforts to ensure the hostage exchange went without any problems,” in a phone call later Thursday, according to the Turkish readout of the call.

Kurmasheva was arrested earlier this year, Kara-Murza was arrested in 2022 and Whelan had been behind bars for more than five years.

In addition to the Americans, 12 prominent Russian dissidents and German nationals were also released by Moscow. They  included Ilya Yashin, a close aide of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to Turkish sources briefing the press about the exchange.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said after the exchange that the Biden administration was planning to involve Navalny into the deal before he died at a Russian prison under suspicious circumstances in February.

"We’ve negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia — including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country,” Biden's statement read.

The United States, Germany, Slovenia and Norway released 10 prisoners in return. They were relocated to Russia as part of the swap and included two children, the sources said. Among them were Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a Chechen fighter in Berlin in 2019.

“From the beginning of the negotiation process until the last moment of the exchange,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “all security measures, logistical planning and requirements of the exchange activities were carried out by Turkish National Intelligence Agency.”

The prisoners were transported to Turkey in seven aircraft, including two from the United States and one each from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia, as part of the prisoner exchange operation, MIT said. Once transported to Turkey, all prisoners were taken off the aircraft and moved to secure locations under the supervision of the agency, according to the sources.

Turkish media outlets published images of a plane with a Russian flag on the tail waiting this afternoon local time on the tarmac at the Ankara Esenboga Airport.

“I am grateful to our allies who stood with us throughout tough, complex negotiations to achieve this outcome — including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey,” Biden said. “This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon. Our alliances make Americans safer.”

The last prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia, in December 2022, included American basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

This developing story has been updated since initial publication.