In the exchange, which took place at Ankara airport on Thursday afternoon, eight Russians held in the west returned to Russia. Among them was the Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov, who has been held in a German prison since 2019 for the murder of a Chechen exile in Berlin.
Two minors were also returned to Russia, believed to be the children of the spies jailed in Slovenia. Hazy video footage showed a Russian government plane landing at the airport in the Turkish capital before the swap.
Among those freed by Russia were Gershkovich, the former US marine Paul Whelan and the Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, the Turkish presidency said. A possible exchange had been mooted for months, with long discussions behind closed doors involving numerous governments.
Collection
[
|
...
]