By Andrew Osborn, Filipp Lebedev, Lucy Papachristou and Trevor Hunnicutt
US, Russia conduct largest prisoner swap since Cold War
MOSCOW/ANKARA/WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Russia on Thursday freed American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in the largest prisoner swap of its kind since the end of the Cold War.
The White House said the U.S. had negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, negotiated in secret for more than a year, included 24 prisoners, including 16 who were moved from Russia to the West and eight prisoners those held in the West were returned to Russia.
Germany confirmed that Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murdering an exiled dissident in Berlin, was also among them.
