Wall Street Journal (WSJ) journalist Evan Gershkovich, who is serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on contested espionage charges, could be on the cusp of a freedom as part of a rumored, imminent prisoner swap between Russia and the U.S. alongside Germany.
Per a report by the well-informed Politika.Kozlov political newsletter, re-printed up by the Moscow Times late Wednesday, between 20 to 30 political prisoners and journalists in captivity in Russia are on the verge of being freed in what would be the biggest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War.
Gershkovich was arrested in Russia in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to the eastern Russian city of Yekaterinburg. Russia accused him of working with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), charges which Gershkovich and the WSJ vehemently denied.
He was sentenced in July to 16 years in a high-security penal colony, becoming the first U.S. journalist to be convicted for espionage since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.
President Joe Biden issued a statement in the wake of the sentence declaring Gershkovich’s innocence and saying he had been targeted by “the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American.”
At the time of Gershkovich’s sentencing, there were suggestions in some well-informed media and diplomatic quarters that the speed of his trial indicated a prisoner swap deal was already on the cards.
Other names on Politika.Kozlov’s speculative list of potential releasees include Russian-UK political activist and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza and U.S. national and former marine Paul Whelan.
The last prisoner exchange between Russia and the U.S. was in December 2022 when U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner was released in turn for the freedom of arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a minimum 25-year sentence in the U.S. at the time.
At the time of Griner’s release, Biden expressed regret that Whelan had not been included in the same exchange. Griner also vowed to keep campaigning for her U.S. compatriots still held in Russian jails.