Mastodawn

Nonilex Aug 1, 2024

Release of 32-year-old American from #Russia secured as part of largest East-West prisoner swap since Cold War

Russia freed wrongly convicted @WSJ reporter Evan #Gershkovich as part of the largest & most complex East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, in which he & more than a dozen others jailed by the #Kremlin were exchanged for Russians held in the #US & #Europe, including a convicted murderer.

#Hostages #journalism #law
https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/evan-gershkovich-free-cde745b3

Show thread

Nonilex

#Moscow also released fmr Marine #PaulWhelan, #journalist Alsu #Kurmasheva & Vladimir #KaraMurza, a British-Russian #dissident & Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, sentenced to 25 yrs in prison on treason-related charges. #Russia also released a number of political dissidents.

@WSJ
#MafiaState #Hostages #ForeignPolicy #journalism #InternationalLaw #HumanRights #geopolitics #law

Show thread

Nonilex Aug 1, 2024

The sweeping deal involved 24 prisoners & at least 6 countries, & came together after months of negotiations at the highest levels of govts in the #US, #Russia & #Germany, whose prisoner, Russian #HitMan #VadimKrasikov, emerged as the linchpin to the arrangement.

#WhiteHouse ofcls, US diplomats & personnel from the #CIA had crisscrossed #Europe & the #MiddleEast looking for friendly governments willing to release the Russian spies in their custody in return for Americans held by the #Kremlin.

Show thread

Nonilex Aug 1, 2024

Vadim #Krasikov, a fmr #intelligence officer & Russian #HitMan who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a Chechen rebel leader in Berlin.

#POTUS #Biden—about an hour before he notified the world he was dropping out of the presidential race on July 21—called the PM of #Slovenia, whose country was contributing 2 convicted Russian #spies to the swap, to secure the pardon necessary for the deal to proceed.

#Putin #Russia #MafiaState #ForeignPolicy #journalism #geopolitics #law

Show thread

Nonilex Aug 1, 2024

#CIA Dir William Burns traveled to #Turkey last week to meet his counterpart there & finalize the logistics for the swap.

At the center of the deal was #Krasikov, a convicted murderer that Russian President Vladimir #Putin had been pushing to free since 2021. The fmr #intelligence officer, a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan #war, had shot & killed a Chechen rebel leader in a Berlin park, & was serving a life sentence.

#Russia #ForeignPolicy #journalism #InternationalLaw #HumanRights #geopolitics

Show thread

Nonilex Aug 1, 2024

The exchange is emblematic of a new era of state-sponsored #hostage-taking by #autocratic govts seeking #leverage over rivals. It was negotiated as tensions soared between #Russia & the West over the #war in #Ukraine.

It also offers sobering evidence of the asymmetry between the #US & Russia in this new, piratical order. #Putin can order foreigners plucked from restaurants & hotels & given lengthy prison sentences on spurious charges—something an American leader can’t do.

#law #geopolitics

Show thread

Nonilex Aug 1, 2024

As the #US sought over the course of a year to extract #Gershkovich, #Whelan & others w/o offering #Krasikov in return, snr Russian #intelligence ofcls had made clear there was no deal w/o him. German ofcls eventually agreed, extracting their own price of a dozen Russian prisoners in return.
The #Biden admin has pursued a series of large prisoner swaps w/hostile countries, including last year extracting 10 Americans & a fugitive from #Venezuela & a major deal w/ #Iran….
#Russia #geopolitics #law

Show thread