Irish citizen released as part of prisoner swap between US and Russia

Irish government officials met with US Marine Paul Whelan back in 2022 during efforts to secure his release from a Russian Prison.

Mr Whelan currently holds four passports, one of which is Irish. The 54-year-old was charged with spying for the United States in June 2020 by a Russian Court, over 18 months after he was first detained by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service in a Moscow hotel room—the marine was given a 16-year sentence at the K-17 facility. 

Today, the United States and Russia have completed their biggest-ever prisoner exchange since the Cold War ended. 

The Irish citizen was on a watch list alongside Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. 

On March 29, 2023, Gershkovich was taken into custody in Yekaterinburg while reporting from the city. He was arrested for collecting intelligence despite no proof from Russian authorities that he was doing so. 

Taoiseach [ Ireland's leader] Simon Harris welcomed the marine’s release, adding that it will be of "enormous relief" to his friends and family. 

He said in a statement: "I want to welcome the release of Irish citizen Paul Whelan from prison in Russia.

Taoiseach (Irish leader) Simon Harris.

"I have received confirmation from the US Government that Mr Whelan was part of a prisoner exchange earlier today negotiated over many months. I have spoken to the US Ambassador in Ireland, who confirmed the news.

"I know this will be an enormous relief to his family, who have campaigned for his release for many years.

"I would also like to thank Ireland’s diplomatic team in Russia and our consular team in Dublin for their years of tireless work on this case."

The multinational deal will see two dozen prisoners freed, according to officials in Turkey, where the exchange took place. 

The trade followed years of top-secret back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their least stable since the Cold War following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

The agreement is the most recent in a string of prisoner swaps between Russia and the States in the previous two years but also the first to require significant concessions from other countries. 

Russia has also secured the freedom of its own nationals who have been convicted of serious crimes in Western countries by trading them for journalists, dissidents and other Westerners who had been charged in a highly politicized legal system on charges the US judiciary system considers illegitimate. 

The White House did not immediately release any details on the deal. 

In a statement online, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president and CEO Stephen Capus confirmed media reports that Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist working for the broadcaster, would be released as part of the deal.

Capus said the broadcaster welcomed "news of Alsu’s imminent release and are grateful to the American government and all who worked tirelessly to end her unjust treatment by Russia".

Dual US-Russian citizen Kurmasheva was found guilty in July of disseminating misleading information about the Russian Military, although both her employer and family have refuted the charges. 

The agreement would be the most recent exchange between Washington and Moscow in the previous two years.

Other trades that year included the return of WNBA player Brittney Griner to the US in exchange for infamous arms trafficker Viktor Bout and the exchange of veteran marine Trevor Reed for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was found guilty of a drug trafficking conspiracy.

Securing the release of Americans wrongfully detained abroad was moved to the top of President Joe Biden’s foreign policy agenda for the final six months of his term. 

In his Oval Office address discussing his decision to stop running for a second term, he said: "We’re also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world."

Russia also received Vadlim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier. 

 Securing the release of Americans wrongfully detained abroad was moved to the top of President Joe Biden’s foreign policy agenda for the final six months of his term.

A "sham" and shockingly quick trial of Gershkovich, which saw him imprisoned for 16 years, acted as a catalyst for speculation that a swap was near, as well as a number of other unusual developments. 

In recent days, a number of other individuals have been detained in Russia for opposing the conflict in Ukraine or for their involvement with the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and were transferred to undisclosed locations.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.