Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan are expected to be freed in a historic prisoner swap with Russia, a U.S. official confirmed to The Hill.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the exchange.
Whelan was arrested in 2018 and later convicted of espionage, charges he, his family and the US deny. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The US government designated him “wrongfully detained” but failed to secure his release in previous prisoner exchanges that led to the release of American Trevor Reed and WNBA star Brittney Griner, who were released in separate exchanges in 2022.
Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in March 2023 and accused of collecting state secrets about the Russian military on behalf of the US government. He became the first American journalist to be detained in Russia since the Cold War and was sentenced in July to 16 years in prison.
Bloomberg was the first to report at the release, citing unnamed sources.
The Biden administration, press freedom groups and Gershkovich’s employer have called for his release and called the charges trumped-up.
Biden had previously said he was willing to agree to a prisoner exchange to free Gershkovich, a tactic he had used before to secure Griner’s release in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout — known as the “Merchant of Death.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated in a February interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he would be open to a prisoner exchange, and there has been speculation that Moscow wants the return of Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a prison sentence of life imprisonment in Germany in 2019. murder of a Georgian citizen who fought against Russia in Chechnya.
Bloomberg also reported that Vladimir Kara-Murza, a US resident and husband of an American citizen, is also part of the exchange. Kara-Murza is a prominent Russian opposition politician who was arrested in 2022 and sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of treason and spreading disinformation about the Russian military related to its war in Ukraine.
This article was updated at 9:05 am
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
