Reported List of All the People Exchanged by Russia in What Could Be Biggest Swap Since Cold War

This was stated by NTV, citing Turkey's National Intelligence Organization.

According to information received from security sources, 26 people were transferred to Turkey in 7 planes, 2 from the US, 1 from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Russia, as part of the operation in Ankara.

According to BBC, in addition to journalist Evan Gershkovich and former marine Paul Whelan, Russia will also exchange Russian-American journalist of Radio Svoboda Alsu Kurmasheva.

The exchange also includes the names of the German Rico Krieger, who was sentenced to death in Belarus and later pardoned; Russian oppositionist Ilya Yashin; FSB agent Vadym Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the murder of a Chechen field commander.

Here is the list of the exchanged according to the Insider:

Freed from Russia:

• Evan Gershkovich

• Vladimir Kara-Murza

  A Russian political activist who was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Moscow court in April 2023. He had been held in pre-trial detention since April 2022 on charges of spreading “false information” about the Russian military, collaborating with an “undesirable organization,” and state treason. These charges were linked to his critical speeches in the U.S. and Europe, where he denounced Russian state terror and the war in Ukraine.

• Lilia Chanysheva

  Chanycheva, the former head of Alexei Navalny's Ufa office in Bashkortostan, was arrested in Ufa in November 2021. She became the first person charged in the case against the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) and Navalny's offices, which were labeled as an "extremist community."

• Ilya Yashin

  On December 9, 2022, Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court sentenced opposition politician Yashin to 8.5 years in a “general regime” penal colony for disseminating “false information” about the Russian army. This sentence was the harshest penalty for this charge at that time. The case arose from Yashin's YouTube stream in which he discussed the Russian military's actions in Bucha.

• Ksenia Fadeeva

  Ksenia Fadeeva, the former head of Navalny's Tomsk headquarters, was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony In December 2023. She was convicted of “organizing the activities of an extremist community through her official position” and “participating in a non-profit organization that violates the rights and dignity of citizens.”

• Andrei Pivovarov

  Andrei Pivovarov faced criminal charges for involvement in the activities of an “undesirable organization.” Pivovarov was sentenced to four years in a penal colony and prohibited from participating in social and political activities. By May 2023, he was transferred to a strict regime in a Karelian colony and was placed in solitary confinement multiple times.

• Paul Whelan

  Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine and former head of security at the auto parts company BorgWarner, was arrested in Moscow in 2018 during a visit for a former colleague's wedding. In June 2020, he was convicted of espionage against Russia and sentenced to 16 years in a strict regime colony, although he maintained his innocence.

• Alsu Kurmasheva

  Kurmasheva is a US-Russian citizen and journalist for Idel.Realii, the regional news outlet of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL). She was held on charges of “failing to submit documents required for inclusion in the register of foreign agents.” In December, a second case was initiated against her for allegedly spreading “false information” about the Russian army. On July 19, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan sentenced Kurmasheva to 6 years and 6 months in prison after finding her guilty of the “false information” charge.

• Oleg Orlov

  In March 2023, a criminal case was initiated against Oleg Orlov, a 71-year-old human rights activist and chairman of Memorial, following searches at the organization in connection with a separate investigation into the “rehabilitation of Nazism.” Orlov faced accusations of discrediting the Russian army.

• Sasha Skocilenko

• Dieter Voronin

  Russian0Germany citizen and politologist Dieter Voronin was sentenced by a Russian court to a lengthy prison term on charges of "espionage" in favor of the German intelligence service (BND).

• Kevin Lik

• Rico Krieger

  Rico Krieger, a former medic with the German Red Cross, was detained in Belarus in October 2023. He faced six charges: illegal firearm possession, sabotaging transport or communication routes, creating or participating in an extremist group, espionage, mercenary activity, and terrorism.

• Patrick Schöbel

  Patrick Schobel, a 38-year-old German, was arrestedon suspicion of bringing gummy candies containing cannabis into Russia. He was detained on February 14. Schobel faced a criminal case for drug smuggling, with a maximum penalty of seven years.

• Herman Moyzhes

  On May 28th, German-Russian citizen Herman Moyzhes, a lawyer and cycling activist, was detained and later charged with treason.

• Vadim Ostanin

  Vadim Ostanin, the former head of Alexei Navalny's Barnaul headquarters, was known for speaking out against local corrupt officials and assisting residents in holding them accountable. He was detained in December 2021 on charges of “participating in an extremist community” and involvement with a “non-profit organization infringing on citizens’ privacy and rights.” In July of the previous year, Ostanin was sentenced to 9 years in a general regime penal colony.

Released to Russia:

• Vadim Krasikov (from Germany)

  Vadim Krasikov is an assassin who previously served in Vympel, a unit of the FSB Spetsnaz Center. He has been identified as the perpetrator of several contract killings, including the murder of businessman Alexander Kozlov in Karelia in 2007, businessman Albert Nazranov in Moscow in 2015, and Chechen refugee Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin in 2019.

• Artem Dulcev (from Slovenia)

• Anna Dulceva (from Slovenia)

  Operatives of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. According to the WSJ, their target in Slovenia was the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, located in Ljubljana, near the apartment where they were staying.

  It is reported that they also used Slovenia as a base for trips to Italy, Croatia, and other European countries to connect with other intelligence agents to whom they relayed orders from Moscow.

• Mikhail Mikushin (from Norway)

• Pavel Rubtsov (from Poland)

  On February 27, 2022, GRU agent Pavel Rubtsov, who was posing as Spanish journalist Pablo Gonzalez, was detained by Poland at the Polish-Ukrainian border and charged with espionage for Russia. He was accused of using his journalistic cover to collect information for Russian intelligence.

• Roman Seleznev (from the USA)

  Russian hacker Roman Seleznev was sentenced to 27 years in prison in the United States for computer fraud and identity theft. He received his final sentence in 2018, making it the longest prison term ever for cybercrime in US history. Since 2003, Seleznev had been selling stolen bank card data, mainly targeting US citizens. US intelligence agencies had been monitoring his activities on hacker forums since the mid-2000s, estimating the total damage from his actions to be over $169 million.

• Vladislav Klyushin (from the USA)

  Boston court convicted Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin of insider trading and sentenced him to nine years in prison. Klyushin was arrested in Switzerland in March 2021 and subsequently extradited to the US. He faced charges for his involvement in a scheme that exploited confidential information for financial profit in the securities market.

• Vadim Konoshchenok (from the USA)

Konoshchenok was a member of a smuggling network, which was involved in the illegal export of high-tech equipment from the United States to Russian state-owned companies via the EU. His clients included FSB institutes, military communications developers, the Federal Protection Service (FSO), the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), and various other Russian government and security agencies.