WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 Bloomberg has disciplined those who broke the embargo on a prisoner swap deal and apologized to those involved, The New York Times reports.
«Last Thursday, we prematurely published a story about the release of Evan Hershkowitz and other prisoners, which could have jeopardized the swap and their release. While our story thankfully did not affect the situation, it was a clear violation of editorial standards,» Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait said in an email, cited by the newspaper.
He said that following an internal investigation, those responsible for the incident were subject to disciplinary action, and the agency would reconsider its approaches so as not to repeat the mistake. The agency's editor-in-chief said he apologized to his colleague from the Wall Street Journal. “I also personally wrote an apology to the prisoners,” Micklethwaite said.
«We publish thousands of stories every day, many of them breaking news. We take accuracy very seriously. But we also have a responsibility to do the right thing. In this case, we did the wrong thing,» he added. He.
As reported by New York Magazine, citing several sources, including the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets, Bloomberg's early release of the story about the exchange of Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich caused dissatisfaction: «officials and journalists were seething with anger.»
The White House, as the publication noted, asked to hold the prepared material until the exchange in Turkey, the article was not published even by the Wall Street Journal, where Gershkovich works. The agency's journalist wrote a post on the X social network when the Russian plane was still in the air, stating that it was an honor for him to be the first with this information, but later, as the magazine writes, the post was deleted.
An unnamed Wall Street Journal employee told New York Magazine that one of his colleagues from the newspaper was waiting for the exchange at the Ankara airport «with binoculars», and that the previously published Bloomberg note was therefore unreliable. It was later edited, and the caption to the new version stated that the news «was changed to reflect that the Americans had not yet been released.»
Bloomberg released the article at 7:41 a.m. Washington time (2:41 p.m. Moscow time) on Thursday, although the agency's journalist had previously made it clear to the White House that he, like other reporters with the information, would wait until a closed briefing by administration officials at 8 a.m., the newspaper added.
On August 1, the FSB reported that eight Russians detained and imprisoned in a number of NATO countries had been returned to Russia. In particular, this concerned Vadim Sokolov (Krasikov), who had been sentenced to life in Germany, and Vladislav Klyushin, who had been imprisoned in the United States. Artem and Anna Dultsev, Pavel Rubtsov, Vadim Konoshchenko, Mikhail Mikushin, and Roman Seleznev also returned to Russia. The Russians who returned to their homeland were accused of cooperating with Russian intelligence agencies, but their guilt was not proven. All of the Russians pleaded not guilty during court hearings and while serving their sentences. They were personally met at the airport by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stated that those involved in military service would be nominated for state awards.
In turn, during the exchange, a number of citizens convicted of espionage and a number of Russians with dual citizenship left Russia. Their guilt was fully proven, they were also convicted under articles on treason and public calls for extremist activity. The foreign side showed interest in the Russians, who were presented in the West as the opposition, such attention to them is understandable and explainable, they were in contact with curators from Western intelligence services, worked for opponents.
As part of the exchange, three US citizens returned to the States: Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, as well as the holder of a US residence permit Vladimir Kara-Murza* (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent). Putin signed decrees on pardoning the citizens exchanged from Russia. As reported on the Kremlin website, the decision to sign the decrees was made with the aim of returning Russian citizens who were detained and imprisoned in foreign countries.
* An individual performing the functions of a foreign agent