Great Prisoner Exchange - Gershkovich and Co. These are the most famous of the released
For days, political prisoners have been disappearing from Russian prisons. For instance, Ilya Yashin, an opposition politician, was last held in penal colony number three in the Smolensk region. His whereabouts remain unknown. As of Tuesday afternoon, human rights activist Oleg Orlov and artist Alexandra Skotchenko were also removed from their cells. It's extremely rare for Russian prisoners to be transferred.
Days later, Moscow released American journalist Evan Gershkovich, convicted of spying, and a former US soldier. Was this the beginning of a major prisoner exchange, which was eventually carried out on Thursday by the participating nations? Russia freed 16 people from detention, with five of them being German, according to US President Joe Biden. In return, Western nations released eight prisoners and handed them over to Russia, including what appears to be the so-called Tiergarten murderer, Vadim Krasikov.
The European Union expressed concern over the sudden disappearances of political prisoners in Russia, urging for transparency and adherence to human rights. Following the release of several high-profile prisoners, Russia and Western nations engaged in a prisoner exchange, involving individuals from various nations.
