In what is now the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and Western nations since the Cold War, Thursday marked a day of freedom for several high-profile individuals on both sides.
Among the Americans released was Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, American citizen Alsu Kurmasheva and U.S. permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza. Five German citizens and seven Russian citizens were also released by Russia.
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In exchange, Russia will be welcoming home eight individuals held in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland.
Among the Russians at the center of the prisoner exchange was Vadim Krasikov, a killer and assassin who U.S. officials described as the "biggest fish" in the deal for the Russians. Krasikov had been serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 fatal shooting of a 40-year-old man in a Berlin park in broad daylight.
The man he murdered, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was described as an enemy of Moscow and former Chechen militant. The judge on the case reportedly described the killing as an act of "state terrorism" that was likely a direct order from the Kremlin — or Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.
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Other Russians released by the West had been jailed on charges ranging from computer hacking, identity theft and espionage, to money laundering and wire fraud. Their crimes have been linked to millions of stolen credit card numbers being sold online, as well as U.S. technology and ammunition being smuggled into Russia to aid in its war against Ukraine.
