The Turkish secret services coordinated the prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States which also involves Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter, and the former US Marine Paul Whelan. The operation was completed at Ankara airport.

Joe Biden also confirmed this: « Today 3 American citizens and an American green card holder unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally returning home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza. The agreement that guaranteed their freedom was a diplomatic feat. In total, we negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia, including 5 Germans and 7 Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Some of these women and men have been unfairly detained for years. They all endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today their agony is over ."

Until a few hours nothing was certain but the pardon that the Belarusian dictator Lukashenko had granted yesterday to a German citizen sentenced to death and the sentences - considered obviously politically motivated - inflicted in recent days in unusually quick times for Gershkovich and the Russian-American reporter Alsu Kurmasheva (a conviction is needed to grant pardon). Among the Russian political prisoners, the last one whose traces had been lost was Vladimir Kara-Murza, one of the best-known faces of the opposition.

(Unioneonline/D)

© Riproduzione riservata