Today's Headlines

Summary

• All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty,” President Biden said in a statement announcing the prisoner swap. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, attends a court hearing in Kazan, Russia, on April 1. Last month, she was sentenced in prison after a trial that reportedly lasted just two days. Liliya Chanysheva, Kseniya Fadeyeva, Rico Krieger, Kevin Lick, Herman Moyzhes, Oleg Orlov, Vadim Ostanin, Andrey Pivovarov, Patrick Schoebel, Sasha Skochilenko, Dieter Voronin and Ilya Yashin. The DOJ said Klyushin made those profits off of trades that were based on confidential corporate intel stolen from U.S. computer networks.

Approximate Time

• 6 minutes, 1012 words

Categories

• Russian authorities, Russian political prisoners, Russian, Russian churches, Russian captivity

Analysis and Evaluation

• An engaging and informative exploration of the topic, this article is a must-read for informed citizens.

Main Section

Three U.S. citizens and one legal permanent resident will be returning home from Russia as part of a massive prisoner swap that is one of the largest of its kind since the end of the Cold War.

The agreement involves at least 16 political prisoners who had been jailed in Russia in exchange for eight Russians held in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Poland and Slovenia.

Among those being freed are the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia last year and accused of espionage, and Paul Whelan, a former Marine who has been in Russian captivity since 2018.

“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty,” President Biden said in a statement announcing the prisoner swap. “This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon.”

Here is what we know about those being let go:

Evan Gershkovich

Gershkovich is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who was detained in Russia on March 29, 2023, while on assignment for the paper. He was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service in the city of Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage. In July, to 16 years in prison.

Gershkovich — the American-born son of Soviet-era emigres to the U.S — and the Wall Street Journal have consistently denied the allegations against him. So too has the U.S. government, which designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained.

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Kara-Murza is a vocal critic of the Kremlin and Pulitzer Prize-winning contributor to The Washington Post who in 2023 was in a Russian penal colony after authorities accused him of treason and spreading “fake” information about the Russian military.

He has long spoken out against what he says is a Kremlin policy of assassinating its political enemies, and has drawn the ire of Russian authorities for calling on Western governments to sanction Moscow for human-rights abuses.

In 2022, he gave from Moscow in which he called the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin a “regime of murderers.” Within hours, he was under arrest.

Alsu Kurmasheva

Kurmasheva is a Russian-American journalist who works for the federally funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She was arrested in October and charged with spreadin[Today's Headlines]g “false informati[Today's Headlines]on” about the Russian military under a law passed just days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine that effectively criminalized criticism of the war.

She was also charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. Last month, she was sentenced in prison after a trial that reportedly lasted just two days. Her family, her employer and the U.S. government have all denied the charges against her.

Paul Whelan

Whelan is a former U.S. Marine who was arrested on Dec. 28, 2018, while traveling to attend the wedding of a fellow Marine to a Russian woman. Russian authorities accused Whelan of espionage, and in June 2020 he was convicted and then .

He was arrested at Moscow’s upscale Metropol Hotel after he was given a thumb drive from a friend that he believed had photos of Russian churches, but actually contained “state secrets,” . Whelan has maintained his innocence and the U.S. government has said he was convicted on fabricated charges.

“Russia says it caught James Bond on a spy mission,” Whelan said during a memorable court appearance in 2019. “In reality, they abducted Mr. Bean on holiday.”

12 German nationals will also be freed

A dozen German nationals who became Russian political prisoners are also being released. They include:

Liliya Chanysheva, Kseniya Fadeyeva, Rico Krieger, Kevin Lick, Herman Moyzhes, Oleg Orlov, Vadim Ostanin, Andrey Pivovarov, Patrick Schoebel, Sasha Skochilenko, Dieter Voronin and Ilya Yashin.

The U.S. is releasing 3 Russians

As part of the prisoner swap, eight Russians will be returning home. Three will be released from U.S. prisons: Vladislav Klyushin, Vadim Konoshchenok and Roman Seleznev.

Klyushin was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2023 for what “an elaborate hack-to-trade” scheme that netted the Russian businessman $93 million in ill-gotten gains. The DOJ said Klyushin made those profits off of trades that were based on confidential corporate intel stolen from U.S. computer networks.

Konoshchenok, a suspected Russian intelligence operative, was extradited to the U.S. from Estonia last year to face charges stemming from an alleged procurement and money laundering scheme. The Justice Department he was “a critical participant in a scheme to provide sensitive, American-made electronics and ammunition in furtherance of Russia’s war efforts and weapons development.”

Seleznev has been serving a 27-year prison sentence for running a vast credit-card and identity-theft operation. Federal prosecutors say his crimes led to the theft and resale of more than 2 million credit card numbers — with losses of at least $170 million, but potentially in the billions. His victims included more than 4,000 financial institutions and businesses around the world.

In addition to those being released from American prisons, five others will be released from Germany, Norway, Poland and Slovenia. German authorities have agreed to release Vadim Krasikov, a suspected Russian state assassin who was serving a life sentence for the 2019 killing in Berlin of a Georgia citizen of Chechen origin.

Norway is releasing Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin; Poland will free Pavel Alekseyevich Rubtsov; and Slovenian authorities will let go Anna Valerevna Dultseva and Artem Viktorovich Dultsev.

Content comes from the Internet: https://www.npr.org/2024/08/01/nx-s1-5060041/us-russia-prisoner-swap-evan-gershkovich

Related suggestion: State of Affairs: In recent months, central and local authorities have introduced a number of favorable measures to support the cultural and tourism economies, which in turn is expected to boost overall tourism, Zhu said.Global Times Content comes from the Internet : https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202406/1315068.shtml

SummaryA report by Ctrip, one of China’s largest online travel agencies, showed that the search popularity for domestic hotels and flights has increased by more than 20 percent compared with the same period in 2023. The Ctrip report noted that over 70 percent of summer travel bookings were for long-distance distance. So far, bookings for international flights on Qunar.com have increased by 150 percent year-on-year, indicating a strong demand for outbound travel during the summer vacation that Qunar.com estimated is expected to return to the levels in 2019.Visa-free policies to a number of popular tourist destinations in Asia for Chinese tourists have had a significant impact on demand. According to data from Tongcheng Travel, bookings for flights to Paris from major Chinese cities saw a remarkable surge of over 70…