Who are the prisoners in the Russia-West swap?

The US has confirmed 24 individuals have been concerned in a prisoner exchange between Russia and a few Western nations together with the US and Germany.

Among the many prisoners launched are the US residents Evan Gershkovich – a Wall Road Journal reporter – and former US Marine Paul Whelan.

As a part of the deal, Russian safety service hitman Vadim Krasikov has been freed by Germany.

There had been hypothesis for days a couple of main swap between Russia and Western nations, which was heightened after a number of prisoners have been moved from their jail cells in Russian jails to unknown places.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony earlier this month after being convicted on espionage expenses.

The Wall Road Journal (WSJ) reporter was first arrested by safety companies final March whereas on a reporting journey within the metropolis of Yekaterinburg, about 1,600km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow.

Prosecutors accused him of working for the Central Intelligence Company (CIA), accusations that Mr Gershkovich, the WSJ and the US authorities vociferously deny.

It marked the primary conviction of a US journalist for espionage in Russia for the reason that Chilly Battle ended greater than 30 years in the past. After his preliminary arrest, he was held in Moscow’s infamous Lefortovo jail.

Paul Whelan, 54, was given a 16-year jail sentence in 2020 after being arrested in Moscow on suspicion of spying in 2018.

The ex-US Marine is a citizen of 4 nations – the US, Canada, the UK and Eire. His lawyer mentioned he was being held in a jail within the Mordovia area.

After being discharged from the navy in 2008 for unhealthy conduct, he turned a safety guide and began to journey forwards and backwards to Russia for work.

In December 2018, he was arrested by Russia’s FSB state safety company, which claimed he had been “caught spying” in Moscow. His household has at all times denied the costs.

On the identical day Mr Gershkovich was convicted, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in a medium-security jail after a secret trial.

She was an editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is funded by the US authorities, and was convicted of spreading false details about the Russian navy.

Her husband, Pavel Butorin, beforehand mentioned she was arrested over a e book revealed final yr, which was a set of tales about Russians against the conflict in Ukraine.

Ms Kurmasheva holds US and Russian citizenship and lived in Prague along with her husband and two daughters. She was detained in June 2023 whereas visiting her mom in Russia.

Vladimir Kara-Murza is a outstanding Russian dissident, probably the most vocal opponents of the Putin regime, and an outspoken critic of the conflict in Ukraine and the inner crackdown on dissent in Russia.

In 2023, the 42-year-old was sentenced to 25 years in jail for spreading “false” details about the Russian military and being affiliated with an “undesirable organisation”.

Mr Kara-Murza – a former journalist and politician – denied all the costs.

The twin British-Russian citizen had spent his time period in a jail colony in Siberia, the place his spouse mentioned he developed a neurological situation on account of being poisoned.

One in all Russia’s most outstanding opposition figures, Ilya Yashin was jailed in 2022 for “spreading faux information” in regards to the nation’s navy.

He was arrested after he condemned suspected Russian conflict crimes in Bucha.

Following the loss of life of former opposition chief Alexei Navalny in jail, Mr Yashin mentioned he feared for his life.

He beforehand accused President Vladimir Putin of going “mad with energy” in a collection of letters from the jail within the western Smolensk area the place he was being held.

Oleg Orlov is a Russian human rights activist who was jailed in February for calling Russia a fascist state and criticising the conflict in Ukraine. He was beforehand the chair of the Nobel Prize-winning organisation Memorial.

The 71-year-old was handed a two-and-a-half-year time period for “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian armed forces.

In an attraction aginst his sentence in July, he in contrast the Russian justice system to that of Nazi Germany.

His sentencing adopted a retrial. Within the unique trial in October final yr, he obtained a 150,000-rouble superb (£1,290; $1,630) and walked free from the court docket. His later conviction marked a hardening of repressions in opposition to opponents of the conflict.

Lilia Chanysheva was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in jail earlier this yr after being accused of extremism by authorities.

She had served as an area co-ordinator with the late opposition chief Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption community.

She was initially sentenced to seven years in 2023, however prosecutors appealed in opposition to the sentence and instructed officers it was too lenient. She was most lately held at a centre within the Perm area.

Ms Chanysheva was the primary of Mr Navalny’s allies sentenced on the cost. Most of his different activists have fled Russia into exile.

Ksenia Fadeyeva was sentenced to 9 years in jail by authorities after she was accused of organising an extremist group.

She had been an area organiser with Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption basis within the Siberian metropolis of Tomsk, the place she was subsequently detained.

Her attorneys argued that she had ended her affiliation with the organisation earlier than it was designated an extremist group in 2021.

Most of Mr Navalny’s former employees and allies have been pressured to flee Russia into exile in recent times, because the Kremlin has ramped up repression of opposition teams.

Sasha Skochilenko was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony for changing grocery store pricing labels with anti-war messages in November as a type of protest.

The substitute labels drew consideration to civilian deaths in Mariupol and mentioned Russia had grow to be a “fascist state”.

The artist from St Petersburg had been held in a detention centre within the metropolis since April 2023.

German-Russian citizen Kevin Lik was convicted of treason as a teen, changing into the youngest individual ever to be discovered responsible of the crime.

He grew up in Germany and moved to Russia when he was 12.

Authorities sentenced him to 4 years in jail final December for supposedly emailing footage to “representatives of a international state” earlier than and through Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The court docket claimed he had visited and photographed “deployment websites” of Russian troops.

German nationwide Rico Krieger was accused of planting explosives in Belarus and sentenced to loss of life, earlier than being pardoned by the nation’s chief Alexander Lukashenko earlier this week.

In a closely choreographed interview on state-controlled media, he mentioned he was performing on instruction from Ukraine, however no proof was given.

He’s believed to have been the primary Western citizen ever to be given the loss of life penalty in Belarus.

Russian opposition activist Andrei Pivovarov headed the Open Russia foundation, which was established by former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent a decade in jail for campaigning in opposition to Mr Putin.

He was arrested in 2021 after making an attempt to depart the nation from St Petersburg, accused of directing an “undesirable organisation”.

In an interview for the Meduza web site, his mom, who lives within the metropolis, mentioned she had been anticipating him residence in September when his sentence was as a consequence of finish. She mentioned he had known as her from Germany and instructed her to not fear, including: “I do not know what occurs subsequent, however for now that is the most suitable choice.”

Russian-German citizen Dieter Voronin was sentenced to 13 years in jail on “treason” expenses after Moscow alleged he obtained categorised navy data from one other journalist, Ivan Safronov, who stays behind bars, AFP reported.

The 38-year-old German was detained in St Petersburg earlier this yr after reportedly being discovered with a packet of hashish gummy bears. He was accused of drug trafficking.

Schoebel defined in court docket that he purchased the bears in Germany final yr and took them earlier than long-haul flights to assist him sleep. He mentioned he did not know they have been banned in Russia.

Russian-German immigration lawyer and biking campaigner Mozhyes is dealing with treason expenses after being arrested in Could.

Little is thought about his case, however human rights activists recommend the costs could also be linked to his work in serving to Russian residents with European paperwork, or just to his nationality.

The Insider web site describes a dramatic first try and arrest him as he was biking in St Petersburg. Apparently he confused the manoeuvres made by the safety forces’ automotive to cease him with a case of unhealthy driving and easily evaded seize. He was later detained exterior his residence and has spent the previous couple of months in custody in Moscow’s Lefortovo jail.

Ostanin was the pinnacle of Alexei Navalny’s regional department in Barnaul, sentenced to 9 years in jail in 2023.

Like the opposite Navalny representatives within the swap, he was charged with belonging to an extremist organisation.

In Could of that yr, whereas in custody awaiting trial, he mentioned that his well being was deteriorating due to his confinement.

Some of the high-profile prisoners to be launched again to Russia is Federal Safety Service (FSB) agent Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 homicide of an exiled Chechen commander in a Berlin park.

Throughout his trial, prosecutors mentioned he was performing on orders from Russia, and that he belonged to a extremely secretive Vympel unit of the FSB.

Legal professionals defending him insisted he was a building employee, not a hitman. He denied being referred to as Krasikov, and recognized himself as Vadim Sokolov, the title on the passport he was travelling with.

In a latest interview with US speak present host Tucker Carlson, Mr Putin hinted his nation was searching for “patriot” Krasikov’s launch in change for US journalist Evan Gershkovich.

Roman Seleznev was found guilty of running a hacking scheme in 2017 that triggered $169m (£131m) in damages.

US officers mentioned he stole bank card knowledge from eating places and offered it on the black market. He was sentenced to 27 years in jail for the scheme, which prosecutors say he ran between 2009 and 2013.

In response to the Justice Division, Mr Seleznev used software program which enabled him to steal thousands and thousands of bank card numbers from 1000’s of companies.

His father is Valery Seleznev, an MP and ally of Mr Putin.

The US charged Vadim Konoshchenok with conspiracy associated to procurement and money-laundering on behalf of the Russian authorities in 2022.

He was additionally thought to have been an FSB agent.

On the time, an announcement from the US Division of Justice mentioned he and others unlawfully bought and exported extremely delicate digital parts, a few of which can be utilized for navy functions.

Husband and spouse Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultseva have been arrested and convicted on espionage expenses in Slovenia.

They have been every sentenced to 19 months in jail. Their two kids additionally returned to Russia with them.

College lecturer Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin was charged with gathering intelligence in Norway on behalf of Russia in 2022 whereas posing as a Brazilian educational.

Norwegian officers mentioned he had a Brazilian passport and had labored as a researcher on the College of Tromso since 2021.

He had reportedly been going by the title José Assis Giammaria.

Mr Mikushin was additionally believed to have lied about his age, being the truth is 44 relatively than 37 when charged.

Arrested in Switzerland on the request of the US authorities in 2021, Klyushin was jailed for 9 years in 2023 for insider buying and selling after refusing a plea deal.

In the course of the investigation, he was linked to former navy intelligence officer Ivan Yermakov, who was allegedly concerned in efforts to affect the 2016 US election in Donald Trump’s favour.

In Russia, the cybersecurity firm he headed, M-13, was additionally answerable for the Katyusha programme, employed by the authorities to observe media shops and running a blog websites.

The Spanish-Russian journalist was arrested in Poland in February 2022, shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, accused of espionage and hyperlinks to Russian navy intelligence.

Born Pavel Rubtsov in Moscow to descendants of Basque emigrees, he moved to Spain as a toddler and altered his title to Pablo González.

After his arrest, a marketing campaign to free him was launched involving Amnesty Worldwide and Reporters with out Borders (RSF).

In a statement in February this year, RSF urged his launch, noting that he nonetheless had not been charged by the Polish authorities.

This story will likely be up to date because the names of extra launched prisoners are confirmed