


Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former United States Marine Paul Whelan were released from Russian custody in a major prisoner swap.
Bloomberg confirmed Gershkovich’s and Whelan’s release on Thursday. The release had been rumored Wednesday in a report from the Moscow Times, which said that up to 20-30 people may be released. Other names floated were Vladimir Kara-Murza, Oleg Orlov, Lilia Chanysheva, and former Moscow city councilman Ilya Yashin.
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It was not made immediately clear which Russians were released in exchange, but the Russian outlet RIA reported the names Vinnik, Maxim Marchenko, Vadim Konoshchenko, and Vladislav Klyushin had disappeared from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons database.
The exchange was the first since December 2022, when basketball player Britney Griner was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
This story is developing and will be updated.