Update (0853 EST): Up to twenty four people are reportedly being exchanged..Update (0839 EST): UK-Russian dual national Vladimir Kara-Muzra has also been released. A press conference is scheduled at 1900L in Berlin with some of the freed prisoners..As this publication previously reported, a Russian-Western prisoner exchange is currently underway. We now have flash reporting that at least US journalist Evan Gershkovich and US-Canadian-UK-Irish quad-national Paul Whelan have been released from Russian captivity..It is not currently clear who was traded from the Western side or if any other prisoners were released from the Russian Federation..This is developing..Paul Nicholas Whelan is a Canadian-born former United States Marine with U.S., British, Irish, and Canadian citizenship. He was arrested in Russia on December 28, 2018, and accused of spying. On June 15, 2020, he received a 16-year prison sentence..Evan Gershkovich, journalist and correspondent of the "Wall Street Journal" in a glass cage in a courtroom of the Moscow City Court.Credit: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP / DPA.Evan Gershkovich is an American journalist and reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Russia. He was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service on charges of espionage in March 2023, marking the first time a journalist working for an American outlet had been arrested on charges of spying in Russia since the Cold War.
Update (0853 EST): Up to twenty four people are reportedly being exchanged..Update (0839 EST): UK-Russian dual national Vladimir Kara-Muzra has also been released. A press conference is scheduled at 1900L in Berlin with some of the freed prisoners..As this publication previously reported, a Russian-Western prisoner exchange is currently underway. We now have flash reporting that at least US journalist Evan Gershkovich and US-Canadian-UK-Irish quad-national Paul Whelan have been released from Russian captivity..It is not currently clear who was traded from the Western side or if any other prisoners were released from the Russian Federation..This is developing..Paul Nicholas Whelan is a Canadian-born former United States Marine with U.S., British, Irish, and Canadian citizenship. He was arrested in Russia on December 28, 2018, and accused of spying. On June 15, 2020, he received a 16-year prison sentence..Evan Gershkovich, journalist and correspondent of the "Wall Street Journal" in a glass cage in a courtroom of the Moscow City Court.Credit: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP / DPA.Evan Gershkovich is an American journalist and reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Russia. He was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service on charges of espionage in March 2023, marking the first time a journalist working for an American outlet had been arrested on charges of spying in Russia since the Cold War.