As part of a significant prisoner swap with the US, Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan are being released by Russia, according to persons familiar with the matter.
The men are traveling to locations outside of Russia when they are imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges that both they and the US contest. According to those who asked to remain anonymous in order to discuss topics that aren’t yet public, the US and its allies will send Russian captives that they are holding back to their country of origin.
The United States and its allies are required by the terms of the prisoner swap to return prisoners under their custody to Russia.
According to US media sources, the Wall Street Journal correspondent might return to the country as soon as Thursday. Official confirmation of the exchange, however, has not yet been provided by Washington or the Kremlin.
Recent rumors that important individuals detained in Russia have “disappeared” from prisons have fueled this conjecture.
According to Reuters, Whelan and Russian-British dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, who are both imprisoned in Russia, have vanished from sight without warning, according to their attorneys, who made the announcement a day earlier. In recent days, at least seven Russian dissidents were forcibly removed from their jails.
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