Prisoner exchange 26
Istanbul, Aug 1 (EFE) –
The United States and its allies exchanged 26 prisoners with Russia at the Ankara airport on Thursday, under the coordination of the Turkish secret services, Turkish media reported.
Among those released is the Spanish-Russian journalist Pablo González, according to his lawyer in Spain.
NTV quoted a statement from the National Intelligence Organization, also known by its initials MIT, saying that a coordinated exchange program was carried out by the Turkish secret service, which “has undertaken a major mediation role in the most comprehensive swap operation in recent times.”
According to security sources, 26 people were transferred to Turkey on seven planes: two from the US, and one each from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Russia, in what the media described as “the biggest swap since World War II.”
As part of the operation, 10 prisoners, two of whom were children, were transferred to Russia, 13 to Germany, and three to the US.
State-run Turkish Radio and TV reported that the list includes Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, US military officer Paul Whelan, German Rico Krieger, who was sentenced to death in Belarus, Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, and Vadim Krasikov, an FSB officer imprisoned in Germany for the murder of a Chechen citizen.
According to TRT, MIT has been coordinating preparations for this operation for some time, including a meeting of the various parties involved in Turkey last July.
MIT agents accompanied the prisoners during the exchange at the airport, handed them over to the respective delegations, and gave the go-ahead for the planes to take-off. EFE
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