US, Russia complete biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, freeing Michigans Whelan [Video]

By ERIC TUCKER, DASHA LITVINOVA and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free, according to officials in Turkey, where the exchange took place.

The Journal confirmed the release, with top editor Emma Tucker saying in a staff email: “I cannot even begin to describe the immense happiness and relief that this news brings and I know all of you will feel the same.”

The trade followed years of secretive back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The sprawling deal is the latest in a series of prisoner swaps …