Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and Marine Paul Whelan, who were convicted in Russia, have been extradited to the United States as part of a prisoner swap, Bloomberg reports.
According to the publication, both are headed outside of Russia. As part of the deal, the United States and its allies will hand over prisoners held in their prisons to Moscow. Bloomberg does not specify who exactly is involved.
Fox News previously reported that Gershkovich could return to the United States as early as August 1.
Prisoner exchange between Russia and the West
On July 19, the court sentenced Gershkovich to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony for espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, the journalist, «on instructions from the CIA,» was collecting data on the activities of Uralvagonzavod.
Whelan was sentenced to the same term and under the same article in 2020. According to investigators, the former Marine Corps sergeant began coming to Russia in 2007 and collected classified information during his trips, as well as trying to recruit FSB and Defense Ministry employees. His defense insisted that Whelan was detained because of a flash drive that a friend gave him, who decided to set up the American for the sake of promotion. Whelan himself believed that the storage device contained photos from a tourist trip.