Turkish media reported today, Thursday, that the Turkish intelligence agency conducted in the capital Ankara, the largest prisoner exchange operation in recent years, involving 26 prisoners from seven countries. The Turkish TRT Haber television channel quoted a statement from the intelligence agency stating: “The largest operation in recent years included 26 prisoners held in prisons across seven different countries (the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus), carried out through the Turkish National Intelligence Organization in Ankara today.”
According to the national intelligence, ten of the exchanged individuals, including two minors, will head to Russia, 13 to Germany, and three to the United States. It is believed that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were among the exchanged prisoners.
U.S. President Joe Biden viewed the prisoner exchange with Russia as a "diplomatic achievement" and confirmed, "We will continue to work for the release of all American prisoners around the world." Biden stated that "there was no need to contact Putin after the exchange deal" and noted that "our allies played the most important role in achieving the deal." He added, "Today, three Americans and a fourth with permanent residency, who were wrongfully imprisoned in Russia, are returning to the United States."
A Turkish security source revealed to Al Jazeera that the U.S.-Russia prisoner exchange deal is the largest between the two sides since World War II. Earlier on Thursday, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, that Gershkovich and Whelan, who were convicted in Russia, were released as part of the exchange. The agency stated that the United States and its allies would, in turn, hand over several prisoners to Moscow. At the same time, it was not specified whom Russia would receive. A Russian court had sentenced Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, to 16 years in prison after being convicted of "espionage."
