The highly speculated Russia-US prisoner swap also includes former US Marine Paul Whelan and Russian-British politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, according to multiple media sources.
Russia released Evan Gershkovich on Thursday, according to multiple media sources.
The Wall Street Journal correspondent was released together with former US marine Paul Whelan, both jailed in Russia on convictions of espionage, as well as Russian-British politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
They are on their way to a destination outside Russia, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the situation.
Their release comes as part of a highly speculated prisoner swap that involves multiple high-profile individuals.
Earlier on Thursday, the Kremlin declined to comment on reports of an imminent Russia-US prisoner swap as speculation over the swap grew. Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to questions with, “No, I still don’t have any comments on this topic”.
Live flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed a Russian government plane that had previously been used to exchange political prisoners landing in Kaliningrad before flying back to Moscow. It was assumed that the exchange of political prisoners took place on the border of Poland, although this remains unconfirmed.
The plane, with tail number RA-61727M, was previously used to exchange Viktor Bout, Konstantin Yaroshenko and Nadezhda Savchenko.
Ivan Pavlov, lawyer and founder of Department One legal group, said, “The situation is unique in the sense that we hear several high-profile figures are being moved at the same time. Given the number (of prisoners being moved), we understand that a swap is expected.”
The whereabouts of former Navalny campaign chiefs Lilia Chanysheva and Ksenia Fadeeva, artist Sasha Skochilenko, politician Ilya Yashin, human rights activist Oleg Orlov, and German citizen Kevin Leake convicted of treason are currently unknown.
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