MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/. Moscow and the West have conducted a prisoner swap. Eight Russians detained or convicted in NATO countries returned home, while convicted foreign nationals and Russians linked to Western intelligence agencies, who had been pardoned by the president, left Russia.

TASS has gathered the main information about the swap.

How swap was conducted

- The operation was coordinated by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization. According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, seven flights brought those intended to be exchanged to Turkey. Ten people, including two children, were handed over to Russia, 13 to Germany and three to the US.

Who returned to Russia

- The Russians that returned home in the prisoner swap particularly include a man known under the name of Krasikov, sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany, and Vladislav Klyushin, who had been in custody in the US, a source in a Russian competent agency said.

- Artyom Dultsev, his wife Anna Dultseva, Pavel Rubtsov, Vadim Konoshchyonok, Mikhail Mikushin and Roman Seleznyov are the other Russians who returned home.

According to the source, these people were earlier sentenced to long prison terms, even life imprisonment, on charges of working for Russian intelligence agencies. However, "in a number of cases," there was no evidence to prove the charges.

Who was pardoned by Putin

- Several foreign nationals and some Russians, including dual citizenship holders, left Russia as part of the deal.

- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed executive orders pardoning 13 convicted Russian and foreign nationals who were later included in the swap list.

- According to the Kremlin website, the Russian leader pardoned Paul Whelan, Kevin Lik, Evan Gershkovich, Demuri Voronin, Vladimir Kara-Murza (designated as a foreign agent in Russia - TASS), Alsu Kurmasheva, Lilia Chanysheva, Vadim Ostanin, Ksenia Fadeyeva, Alexandra Skochilenko, Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov, and Oleg Orlov.

- The swap also involved German citizen Rico Krieger who had been sentenced to death in Belarus and pardoned by the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko.

- The Russian nationals who left the country in the prisoner swap were involved in subversive activities in Russia, which were funded by other countries and supervised by Western intelligence agencies, a reliable source in a Russian competent body said.

- According to the source, these people’s guilt was proven beyond doubt. They were convicted of high treason, publicly spreading deliberately false information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces, publicly calling for extremist activities and creating an extremist community.

Moscow’s reaction

- The Kremlin expressed gratitude to the countries that helped arrange the prisoner swap and bring the Russian nationals back home.

- A source in a competent Russian body stressed that all parties involved in the swap process had fully complied with the agreements reached.

Washington’s reaction

- US President Joe Biden announced that Russia had handed over 16 people as part of the prisoner swap with Western countries.

- Biden said that the swap involved US nationals Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich, convicted in Russia of espionage, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual American and Russian citizen convicted of spreading false information about the Russian army, and Green Card holder publicist Vladimir Kara-Murza convicted of high treason.

- The US president specified that there also were five German nationals and seven Russian citizens among those who left Russia.

What is known about released Russians

- Russian nationals Artyom Dultsev and his wife Anna were convicted of espionage in Slovenia. They had been arrested in late 2022, with their two kids placed in a foster family. On July 31, 2024, a court in Ljubljana sentenced the couple to 19 months in prison.

- In September 2023, a Boston court sentenced Vladislav Klyushin, founder of the M13 high-tech company, to nine years in jail on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud.

In late 2022, the US authorities announced that Vadim Konoshchenok, whom Washington suspected of being a Russian intelligence officer, had been detained in Estonia. The US claimed that he worked to evade US export laws to smuggle military-grade equipment into Russia. He was facing up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.

- Roman Seleznyov was detained by US intel officers at the international airport of Male, the capital of Maldives, on July 5, 2014, and deported to the US. In August 2016, a federal jury in Seattle found him guilty of wire fraud. On April 21, 2017, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison and a fine of $170 mln. In December 2017, the US Justice Ministry announced that Seleztyonv had been sentenced to another 14 years on charges brought against him in Georgia and Nevada.

- A German court earlier sentenced Vadim Krasikov to life in prison in the case of the 2019 murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Chechen-born Georgian national who fought for separatists in the Second Chechen War. The prosecutors came to the conclusion that the crime had been politically motivated and Krasikov had acted on the Russian authorities’ orders.

- Mikahiul Mikushin was detained in Norway in October 2022 on suspicion of gathering information upon instructions from the Russian authorities. He was charged with espionage in October 2022.

- Pavel Rubtsov was arrested in Poland on suspicion of espionage in February 2022. Polish intelligence agencies claimed that he had been gathering information, which, if handed over to the Russian special services, could have negatively affected Poland’s security. He was facing up to ten years in prison.