Largest post-Cold War prisoner swap: Putin welcomes, Medvedev fumes

On Thursday, the world watched with bated breath—the largest political prisoner exchange between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War, according to the media. It involved 24 people aged 19 to 71. Among them were experienced activists, journalists, and others who opposed Russian aggression in Ukraine, noted the AP agency. There were also murderers, criminals, and persecutors, whom the Russian side received and whom Putin greeted with flowers at the airport.

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, commented on the exchange. "I would like, of course, for the traitors to Russia to rot in a dungeon or die in prison, as often happened," he began his shocking post.

It was in a penal colony that Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny died, whom the Putin regime tortured to death. - The opposition received another clear signal that anyone who opposes Putin must expect persecution and even death, commented Dr. Adam Eberhardt, director of the Center for Strategic Studies of the Warsaw Enterprise Institute Foundation at that time.

Medvedev added, "It’s more useful to bring out our own people who worked for the country, for the Fatherland, for all of us. And let the traitors now feverishly select new names and actively disguise themselves under a witness protection program," he wrote on Telegram.

So who did Medvedev name as "working for Russia"? Eight people were released from Western prisons:

Mikhail Mikushin, detained in Norway, entered the country claiming to be a Brazilian citizen. Under the name Jose Assis Giammaria, he worked at one of the universities. He was detained in 2021, identified as Mikhail Mikushin, and accused of espionage.

Artem Dulcev and Anna Dulcev were convicted in Slovenia for espionage. They used the names Ludwig Gisch and Maria Rosa Mayer Munos and were said to work for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

Vadim Konoschenko, expelled to the USA from Estonia, was accused of smuggling ammunition and industrial espionage.

Vladislav Klyushin, a businessman connected to the Kremlin, was sentenced to 9 years in 2023 for fraud, including telecommunications and securities fraud. He was said to have earned at least $33 million. He was arrested in Switzerland and extradited to the United States in 2021.

Roman Seleznev, a Russian hacker sentenced to 27 years in prison for hacking into computer networks and stealing credit card data, which he then sold over the internet.

Pavel Rubtsov, whom Polish authorities agreed to include in the exchange—as the spokesman for the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration and the Minister-Coordinator of Special Services Jacek Dobrzyński reported, describing Rubtsov as a GRU military intelligence officer "carrying out intelligence tasks in Europe and awaiting a criminal trial." As reported by the independent Russian portal Insider, Rubtsov was arrested by Poland at the Polish-Ukrainian border on February 27, 2022. He claimed to be a Spanish journalist and used the name Pablo Gonzalez. He was said to use his journalist status to collect information in Ukraine for Russian special services, and his goal was also to gain the trust of Russian oppositionists.

Vadim Krasikov, 58 years old, an FSB agent. In 2021, he was sentenced in Germany to life imprisonment for murdering the Chechen-Georgian dissident Zelimkhan Khangooshvili in Berlin on the orders of Russian authorities.

According to Medvedev, the supposed traitors—journalists, politicians, and oppositionists who should "rot in a dungeon or die in prison"—are:

Evan Gershkovich, 32, a correspondent for the American newspaper "Wall Street Journal".

Paul Whelan, a former soldier, 54, sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia for espionage in 2020.

Ałsu Kurmaszewa (Alsu Kurmasheva), 47, a journalist for Radio Free Europe (RFE), was detained in 2023 in Kazan while visiting her mother and sentenced to 6.5 years in prison.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, 42, an anti-Kremlin opposition activist holding both Russian citizenship and a British passport, and a US green card. He was arrested in 2022 for criticizing the war and sentenced the following year for treason to 25 years in prison. Ilja Yashin, a critic of the Russian government, is serving an 8.5-year sentence in a penal colony for criticizing the war.

Andrey Pivovarov, 42, an independent journalist, was sentenced to 4 years for working for an "undesirable" organization (Open Russia). Oleg Orlov, a human rights defender, 71 years old, was sentenced for protesting "discrediting the army" and against the war to 2.5 years in prison.

Alexandra Skochilenko, 33, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for placing information about the shelling of civilians in Mariupol on supermarket labels.

Three activists who previously headed Alexei Navalny's offices in the regions of Russia: Lilia Chanysheva (42 years), Vadim Ostanin (47 years), and Ksenia Fadeeva (32 years). They were arrested in 2021 and sentenced for extremism to terms of 9 to 9.5 years in prison.

Kevin Lyk, 19, holds Russian and German citizenship and is the youngest Russian political prisoner sentenced for alleged treason.

Rico Krieger, 29-year-old German citizen, medical worker. He was sentenced in Belarus to death for terrorism and espionage in June this year, then pardoned by Alexander Lukashenko.

Demuri Voronin, a political scientist, was sentenced to 13 years in the famous criminal case against Ivan Safronov, a former journalist for the paper "Kommersant."

Patrick Schoebel, a German citizen, was arrested in February this year at the airport, where customs found marijuana gummies in his luggage. He was accused of drug smuggling.

German Moses, a citizen of Russia and Germany. A lawyer specializing in migration issues, he helped Russians with residence law issues in the European Union. He was arrested in the spring and accused of treason.