WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan released in massive U.S.-Russia prisoner swap. Who are they and why were they detained?

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who had both been detained in Russia on espionage charges, were released Thursday as part of a major U.S.-Russia prisoner swap.

The exchange, which took place in Turkey, was the biggest prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia since the Cold War.

President Biden on Thursday called the prisoner swap a “feat of diplomacy.” He said Russia had released 16 prisoners: five Germans, seven Russians who were “political prisoners in their own country,” along with three American citizens and one American green-card holder.

In exchange, Biden said, eight Russians who were being held in the West will be sent home.

The Americans include Whelan and Gershkovich, as well as Russian American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and green-card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza. Their families joined Biden while he spoke on Thursday. Biden led the room in singing “happy birthday” to Alsu’s daughter. “Now she gets to celebrate with her mom, that’s what this is all about. Families, able to be together again, like they should have been all along,” Biden said.

Who is Evan Gershkovich?

Gershkovich, 32, was accredited to work as a reporter by the Russian Foreign Ministry, according to the Journal.

He was detained by the country’s Federal Security Service on March 29, 2023, while on assignment in Yekaterinburg — a city about 1,200 miles east of Moscow — just a day after he co-authored an article on Russia’s declining economy following its invasion of Ukraine.

At the time Gershkovich was accused of espionage, Russian authorities didn’t provide detailed evidence to support the accusation. He was being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, infamous for its harsh conditions.

The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government denied the espionage charges and called them baseless.

A Russian court convicted Gershkovich of espionage on July 19 and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security prison.

The trial proceedings took place behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg. According to a June indictment, the American journalist was accused of gathering secret information on behalf of the CIA regarding a Russian facility that produces and repairs military equipment.

At no point during the trial did the prosecution present any evidence publicly to support the espionage charges, the New York Times reported. The U.S. called the rushed trial a “sham.”

Who is Paul Whelan?

Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, is a corporate security executive from Michigan who holds U.S., Canadian, British and Irish citizenships. He had been detained by Russian authorities for over five years — since Dec. 28, 2018 — and was imprisoned on espionage charges for his alleged involvement in an intelligence operation. He, his family and the U.S. government have said the allegation is false. Whelan said he was in Moscow to attend a friend’s wedding.

In 2020, Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in a remote prison labor camp in Mordovia, where he had been detained ever since. “If I had known that there would be any sort of problem, I would never have come here,” Whelan told CNN by phone from the prison camp in December.

Whelan had been left out of several prisoner swaps during the Trump and Biden administrations. Of all the Americans detained in Russia whose charges have been disputed by the U.S. government, he had been imprisoned the longest.

Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, who was detained in Russia in 2019, was released in April 2022 in exchange for a Russian citizen found guilty of cocaine trafficking charges in the U.S.

WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia in February 2022 on drug-related charges, was released in December 2022 in exchange for infamous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.