The US administration is negotiating with other countries where ‘suspected Russian spies’ have been detained to discuss the possibility of their exchange for two Americans – Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich arrested in Russia and Paul Whelan sentenced to 16 years from prison. On this subject informed CNN, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
According to the channel, Russians accused of cybercrime are now detained in the United States, but there are no “high-ranking Russian spies”, which is why Washington is forced to turn to its allies for help. ugly.
Participants in previous US-Russian prisoner swaps told CNN that Moscow would not agree to swap suspected cybercriminals for Americans accused of spying.
“Russia considers espionage to be something much more serious than anything else, and they have made it clear that they expect something more serious in return. They want to get ‘like for like,’ explained the one of the chain’s high-ranking sources.
The United States intends to return Whelan and Gershkovich to their home country under a one-time deal, CNN sources say. Two of them say President Joe Biden’s administration “wants to see what kind of creative proposals can pique Russia’s interest.”
In particular, US officials were interested in Russians detained in Brazil, Norway, Germany and countries of the former socialist bloc. According to one of CNN’s sources, Russia is “very interested” in extraditing Vadim Krasikov (Vadim Sokolov), who was sentenced to life in Germany for the murder of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili. German investigators and investigative journalists claimed that the Russian was linked to the FSB.
Among other Russian citizens considered by the United States for a potential exchange, CNN cites Sergei Cherkasov, who was sentenced in Brazil to 15 years in prison for falsifying personal data, and Sergei Konoshchenko, who was arrested in Estonia in December. 2022 at the request of the US. He is accused of having supplied military products to Russia by circumventing the sanctions.
At the US State Department, CNN declined to provide details of the negotiation process associated with the release of Gershkovich or Whelan.
“We regularly interact with partners around the world to discuss cases of wrongful detention and, in some cases, to seek release assistance. We continue to work actively, using all available means, to return home all U.S. citizens wrongfully detained or held hostage overseas,” the agency said.
The Gershkovich and Whelan cases
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in late March in Yekaterinburg, then arrested for espionage. According to the FSB, he collected secret information about one of the Russian enterprises of the military-industrial complex. The Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov claimed that the journalist was “in flagrante delicto”. Foreign media have suggested that Gershkovich could be used as a “hostage” for an exchange.
Former US serviceman Paul Whelan was detained in 2018 in a room at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. A USB key was confiscated from him, which the prosecution alleged contained secret data from FSB agents. In 2020 Whelan sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage.
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