Russia frees WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich in a major prisoner swap, report says

• Russia freed two political prisoners in a major exchange with the US, per Bloomberg.
• The swap was said to involve Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan.

Russia freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan in an exchange with the US, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

It cited people familiar with the situation who asked for anonymity to discuss matters that have yet to be made public.

Gershkovich and Whelan were on their way to undisclosed locations outside Russia, per the outlet.

It said they had been exchanged Russian prisoners being held by the US and unnamed allied nations. It didn't say who.

As of Thursday, Gershkovich had been in Russian detention for 491 days, since his arrest at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg.

He was charged with espionage and held in pre-trial detention for more than a year. He was convicted in July.

Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal, and the US government said the allegation of espionage was ludicrous.

Many analysts said Gershkovich was likely being held to bring about a prison exchange to retrieve detained Russians, as part of so-called hostage diplomacy.

Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018, also on espionage charges. He was given a 16-year prison sentence in May 2020, per Reuters.

In an interview with the BBC in December, Whelan said he felt "abandoned" by the US after he was left out of an earlier swap.

(Whelan also has UK, Canadian, and Irish citizenship.)

Speculation around a potential prisoner swap intensified in recent days as several imprisoned dissidents were moved from their penal colonies this week, including Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian journalist serving 25 years in Russia for criticizing the war in Ukraine.

Whelan's lawyer told Interfax-Russia on Wednesday that she didn't know where Whelan was and that the colony administration hadn't responded to her request.

The Moscow Times on Wednesday also reported that Russia was preparing for the swap, citing a source familiar with the planning.

The Russian state outlet RIA Novosti said that it spoke to Gershkovich's lawyer after the Bloomberg report, who couldn't immediately comment.

State-run outlet TASS, meanwhile, said it verified that Russian prisoners in the US have been removed from the FBI electronic database, which suggested a prisoner swap had indeed occured.

If confirmed, the swap would be a massive win for the US.

It came about a year-and-a-half after another high-profile prisoner exchange, in which US WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner was freed in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.