News
Finally, Russia releases US journalist, other Americans, dissidents in massive 24-person prisoner swap
- /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 27
https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot_20240801-213947.png&description=Finally, Russia releases US journalist, other Americans, dissidents in massive 24-person prisoner swap', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
- Share
- Tweet /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 72
https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot_20240801-213947.png&description=Finally, Russia releases US journalist, other Americans, dissidents in massive 24-person prisoner swap', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free, officials said.
The trade followed years of secretive back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The sprawling deal, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps negotiated between Russia and the U.S. in the last two years but the first to require significant concessions from other countries, was heralded by President Joe Biden as a diplomatic achievement in the final months of his administration. But the release of Americans has come at a price: Russia has secured the freedom of its own nationals convicted of serious crimes in the West by trading them for journalists, dissidents and other Westerners convicted and sentenced in a highly politicized legal system on charges the U.S. considers bogus.
Under the deal, Russia released Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was jailed in 2023 and convicted in July of espionage charges that he and the U.S. vehemently denied and called baseless; Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed since 2018 also on espionage charges he and Washington have denied; and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military, accusations her family and employer have rejected.
The dissidents released included Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer serving 25 years on charges of treason widely seen as politically motivated, 11 political prisoners being held in Russia, including associates of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and a German national arrested in Belarus.
The Russian side got Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services.
Russia also received two alleged sleeper agents who were jailed in Slovenia, as well as three men charged by federal authorities in the U.S., including Roman Seleznev, a convicted computer hacker and the son of a Russian lawmaker and Vadim Konoshchenok, a suspected Russian intelligence operative accused of providing American-made electronics and ammunition to the Russian military. Norway returned an academic arrested on suspicions of being a Russian spy, and Poland also sent back a man it detained.
Thursday’s swap of 24 prisoners surpassed a deal involving 14 people that was struck in 2010. In that exchange, Washington freed 10 Russians living in the U.S. as sleepers, while Moscow deported four Russians living in their homeland, including Sergei Skripal, a double agent working with British intelligence. He and his daughter in 2018 were nearly killed by nerve agent poisoning blamed on Russian agents.
Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich that Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.
In a trial that concluded in two days in secrecy in the same week as Gershkovich’s, Kurmasheva was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military that her family, employer and U.S. officials rejected.
Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.
Gershkovich was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, he moved to the country in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the Journal in 2022.
He had more than a dozen closed hearings over the extension of his pretrial detention or appeals for his release. He was taken to the courthouse in handcuffs and appeared in the defendants’ cage, often smiling for the many cameras.
U.S. officials last year made an offer to swap Gershkovich that was rejected by Russia, and Biden’s Democratic administration had not made public any possible deals since then.
Gershkovich was designated as wrongfully detained, as was Whelan, who was detained in December 2018 after traveling to Russia for a wedding. Whelan was convicted of espionage charges, which he and the U.S. have also said were false and trumped up, and he was serving a 16-year prison sentence.
Whelan had been excluded from prior high-profile deals involving Russia, including the April 2022 swap by Moscow of imprisoned Marine veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy. That December, the U.S. released notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for getting back WNBA star Brittney Griner, who’d been jailed on drug charges.
President Tinubu To Commission Old Keffi Road, from Kado Fish Market to Deidei Today
#FCTRenewedHope
#FCTProjectsCommissioningPresident
The Department of State Service (DSS) has arraigned five associates of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Silva, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations that they concealed information about the whereabouts of their principal, who the agency said was implicated as a financier of an alleged aborted coup attempt against President Bola Tinubu.
Silva, a former Governor of Bayelsa State, has been declared wanted by the Federal Government, while some of his identified properties have been marked for forfeiture following allegations that he sponsored and masterminded the purported coup plot.
The five associates — Reuben Ayuba, Musa Mohammed, Friday Paul, Paganengigha Anagaha and Ayebaifife Suobite — were brought before Justice Peter Lifu on Wednesday and charged with allegedly concealing the whereabouts of Silva, who the DSS described as a fugitive of the law.
A two-count charge filed against them indicated that the accused persons, on April 28, 2026, became accessories after the fact of felony by concealing the whereabouts of Timiprey Silva, said to be a fugitive of the law.
The alleged offence is said to be contrary to Section 519 of the Criminal Code Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The DSS also accused them of conspiracy to commit a felony, specifically concealing the whereabouts of Timiprey Silva, who is described as a fugitive of the law, contrary to Section 516 of the Criminal Code LFN, 2004.
However, all the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them.
DSS lawyer, Emmanuel Orubor, urged the court to fix a date for the agency to open its case by calling witnesses to testify against the accused persons.
Meanwhile, Sunusi Musa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who represented Reuben Ayuba and Paganengigha Anagaha, the first and fourth accused persons, moved applications for bail on behalf of his clients.
Similar bail applications were also argued by Ibrahim Imadegbelo, who represented Musa Mohammed, the second accused person; I. G. Kelubia, who stood for Friday Paul, the third defendant; and E. C. Sogo, who represented Ayebaifife Suobite, the fifth accused person.
The lawyers informed Justice Lifu that their clients had been in custody since October 25, 2025, and urged the court to admit them to bail on liberal terms.
In a brief ruling, Justice Lifu granted the accused persons bail in the sum of N5 million each, with two sureties each in the like sum.
The sureties are required to swear to an affidavit of means, provide evidence of three years’ tax payment, show evidence of visible means of livelihood and deposit their recent passport photographs.
Justice Lifu further ordered that the identities of the sureties must be verified by the Registrar of the Court.
Pending the perfection of the bail conditions, the judge ordered that the accused persons be remanded in Kuje Prison.
The judge fixed July 22 for the commencement of trial.
The charges against them read:
COUNT ONE:
“That you, RUBEN AYUBA, MUSA MOHAMMED, FRIDAY PAUL, PAGANENGIGHA ANAGAHA and AYEBAIFIE SUOBITE, adults, males, on or about the 28th day of April, 2026, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did become accessories after the fact of felony by concealing the whereabouts of Timiprey Silva, who is a fugitive of the law and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 519 of the Criminal Code Act LFN, 2004.”
COUNT TWO:
“That you, RUBEN AYUBA, MUSA MOHAMMED, FRIDAY PAUL, PAGANENGIGHA ANAGAHA and AYEBAIFIE SUOBITE, adults, males, on or about the 28th day of April, 2026, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did conspire to commit a felony to wit: concealing the whereabouts of Timiprey Silva, who is a fugitive of the law and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 516 of the Criminal Code LFN, 2004.”
The Delta State House of Assembly says the decision to declare the seat of the member representing Udu Constituency vacant was taken in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information and House Leader, Hon. Emeka Nwaobi, gave the explanation in Asaba.
Nwaobi said the Assembly acted strictly within its constitutional powers and not for political reasons.
He said, “The House merely carried out its constitutional responsibility after considering the resignation and defection letter submitted by the lawmaker representing Udu Constituency.”
The assembly spokesman explained that the Constitution clearly states the conditions under which a lawmaker can defect from the political party on whose platform he or she was elected without losing the seat.
According to him, the only condition is where there is a division or crisis within the political party at the national level.
He said there was no evidence before the Assembly to show that the lawmaker’s defection met that constitutional requirement.
Nwaobi said, “The Delta State House of Assembly is guided solely by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Every action taken by the House is rooted in the law, and nothing is done outside the provisions of the Constitution.”
He added that the Assembly’s resolution should not be seen as a political vendetta but as a faithful implementation of the Constitution.
The House leader reaffirmed the commitment of the Assembly to the rule of law, constitutional democracy and legislative integrity.
He urged members of the public to study the relevant provisions of the Constitution before drawing conclusions on the Assembly’s decision.
DAY 17 of Projects Commissioning in the FCT
Coup plot: DSS arraigns five associates of ex-Gov Silva
Why we declared Delta lawmaker’s seat vacant – Assembly
-
News20 hours agoCBN revokes licences of 46 Microfinance Banks over failure to satisfy regulatory requirements
-
News23 hours agoEkiti APC Primary Row Deepens As Akinlayo Releases Ibrahim’s Payslips Over Resignation Dispute
-
Entertainment23 hours agoPeller Shuts Down Pregnancy Speculations About Fiancée Jarvis, Insists He’s not set for baby
-
News23 hours agoBREAKING: Borno Sch Releases Identities Of 36 NECO Candidates Still In Boko Haram Captivity After Invasion
-
Sports20 hours agoTransfer: Galatasaray receive two €120m different offers for Victor Osimhen
-
Economy17 hours agoSee Black Market Dollar To Naira Exchange Rate Today 1st July 2026
-
News23 hours agoMy Presidency will unite Nigeria for robust human capital development -Obi
-
News23 hours agoEx- Science and Tech Minister Uche Nnaji arrested over certificate scam
Warning: Undefined variable $user_ID in /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/themes/zox-news/comments.php on line 49
You must be logged in to post a comment Login