Man from Moscow defends channel for prisoner swaps

Moscow’s ambassador to the US was asked about Russia’s appetite for prisoner exchanges.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been detained in Russia for more than four months. Picture: AFP

Moscow and Washington operate a channel dedicated to prisoner swap negotiations, Russia’s ambassador to the US said this week when asked about his country’s appetite for such exchanges in light of the detention of Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.

Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday that the “special channel has already proved its effectiveness” in the 2022 exchange of US basketball star Brittney Griner for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Mr Antonov was responding to a question about whether Moscow cared about the return of its citizens held abroad, after The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia has shown scant interest in prisoner swaps for dozens of its citizens in US prisons.

The US has declared Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich and businessman Mr Whelan wrongfully held and is seeking their immediate release, most likely through a prisoner exchange.

“I am compelled to remind you once again that the matter of prisoner exchanges is dealt with via authorised agencies, as agreed in 2021 by the presidents of Russia and US,” Mr Antonov said.

Gershkovich, a 31-year-old US citizen who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was detained by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service while on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg on March 29. He is being held on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the US government vehemently deny.

Mr Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison in 2020 on an espionage charge that he and the US say is bogus.

On Wednesday, the Journal reported that frustrated efforts to secure the release of Gershkovich and other Americans held in Russia via trades for Russians held by third countries have forced US officials to refocus on a deal involving Russian citizens held by the US. But while there are several potential candidates for exchange, US officials say Russia hasn’t indicated a clear interest in negotiating for their release.

Mr Antonov dismissed the idea that Moscow isn’t interested in the return of Russians to their homeland. “Let me emphasise we stand for the speedy return of all Russian citizens held in American prisons,” he said. “For us, this is an absolute priority. Therefore, we consider speculation in this regard unacceptable.”

Mr Antonov added that previous exchanges had operated through authorised agencies.

US officials negotiated a prisoner exchange to secure the release of Griner, who was serving nine years in a penal colony following her conviction for possessing less than a gram of hashish oil. In December, Griner was traded for Bout, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012 for conspiring to sell arms to people he believed represented Colombia’s FARC rebels, but who were in reality US Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

In 2022, Trevor Reed, a former Marine, who was serving a nine-year sentence in Russia for allegedly assaulting two police officers, was exchanged for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving 20 years in an American prison for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the US.

President Joe Biden said last month that the US was “serious about a prisoner exchange” to secure Gershkovich’s release. But the White House has said talks with Russia on potential swaps haven’t yet yielded “a pathway to a resolution” for Americans the US considers wrongfully detained in Russia, including Mr Whelan.

Mr Antonov said Russia had always opposed what he described as “Washington’s hunting” for Russians in third countries and demanded an end to this practice.

He said Moscow closely monitored the health status and detention conditions of Russians and was in constant contact with them, visiting them whenever possible.

On Monday, US ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy was granted access to Gershkovich in the third such visit since his detention. In June, a Russian court upheld a request from the FSB to extend Gerskovich’s detention to at least August 30 while he awaits trial.

The Wall Street Journal