More American citizens are being held in Russian prisons. His discharge prospects are opaque

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – Once upon a time there was Journalist on reporting trip, Once someone else was attending a wedding. But once upon a time another twin was going back to discuss with the people across the country.

All the American voters are now behind bars in Russia on various charges.

Arrests of American citizens are continuously increasing in Russia with the drowning of family members To the nadir of the Cold War. Washington has accused Moscow of using US voters as a bargaining chip, although Russia says all this is against the law.

While high-profile prisoner exchanges have currently taken place, the prospects for the exchange remain opaque.

“It seems that since Moscow itself has cut off most of the communication channels and does not know how to properly restore them without losing face, they are trying to use hostages. … At least that’s how it looks,” said Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who has shunned Moscow over an upcoming invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Who is believed to be in Russian custody?

Ivan Gershkovich – 32 year old A Wall Side Road magazine reporter faces trial Wednesday on espionage charges that he, his employer and U.S. officials are refuting. He was detained in March 2023 while reporting in the city of Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage. Russia alleges that Gershkovich was once “gathering secret information” on CIA orders from a unit that produced and maintained military equipment. It provided incontrovertible evidence in support of the allegations.

Paul Whelan – 54 year old company security government He, from Michigan, was arrested in 2018 in Moscow, where he was attending a friend’s wedding, convicted of espionage and sentenced to two years in prison. He maintained his innocence, declaring that the allegations were fabricated.

travis leek – musician Was arrested on drug charges in 2023. On an Instagram page he is described as the singer of the band Lovi Noch (Snatch the Night). Court officials have said he is a former paratrooper.

Mark Fogel – Moscow schoolmaster sentenced to fourteen years in prison on drug charges. Interfax news agency said Fogel had taught at the Anglo-American College in Moscow and worked at the US Embassy. Interfax cited court officials as saying that Fogel had admitted the crime.

Gordon Black – 34-year-old body of workers Sgt. Stationed at Citadel Cavazos, Texas, was convicted on June 19 in Vladivostok of burglary and warning against his girlfriend, and was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison. According to the US and Russian governments, he flew to Russia without permission from his US military post in South Korea and was arrested in May, accusing them of stealing from him.

Robert Woodland – Forest, a twin nationwide, He is on trial in Moscow on drug trafficking charges. Russian media reported that his name matched that of a US citizen interviewed in 2020, who said he was born in the Perm region in 1991 and was raised by an American couple two years earlier. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her. A TV display. Forrest was once charged with drug trafficking as part of an organized gang – a punishment punishable by up to twenty years in prison.

Alsu Kurmasheva – KurmashevaA twin American-Russian citizen was arrested in his native Kazan in 2023. The Prague-based writer for the U.S. government-funded Tatar-Bashkir carrier Radio Distant Europe/Radio Self-Rule was once visiting her ailing mother. He faces several charges, including not reporting himself as a “foreign agent” and spreading misinformation about the Russian military.

Ksenia Khavana – to eatThe 33-year-old was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February on treason charges, accused of funneling cash to Ukraine’s military. The isolated Russian news outlet Mediazona called her by her first name, Karelina, and said she had US citizenship after marrying an American. She returned to Russia from Los Angeles to discuss with the people. Rights Crew Pervi Otdell reported that the cost comes from a $51 donation to American Investments Helping Ukraine.

David Barnes – An engineer from Texas, Barnes was once arrested while visiting his sons in Russia, where their mother had taken them. His supporters say the woman made baseless claims of sexual abuse that had already been refuted by Texas investigators, but she was nevertheless convicted in Russia and sentenced to prison.

What is the method of communication?

The most attention has been focused on Gershkovich and Whalen, with the condition area finding both of them wrongfully detained. This designation has been applied to a small group of US citizens imprisoned in international locations.

Those cases go to a different territory’s envoy for hostage cases, who attempts to exchange their leave. They must meet affirmative criteria, including a determination that the arrest occurred solely because the person is a US citizen or is part of a fight to implement US policy or extract concessions from the federal government.

US effectively negotiates swap in 2022 WNBA megastar Brittney Griner And Marine veteran Trevor Reed -Each has been designated as wrongfully detained. given to moscow palm broker viktor boutJoe was once serving a 25-year sentence, and the pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, was serving a twenty-year sentence for cocaine smuggling.

It is opaque how many US citizens are jailed in Russia or whether negotiations are underway for their release.

Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, Instructed the Associated Press regarding his arrest He was hoping that the US government would pursue “every avenue and every means available to him” to obtain his release, as well as declare him wrongfully detained.

Is the West retaining someone Russia wants?

In December, Condition Area said it had made a significant deal for Gershkovich and Whelan but that Russia disliked it.

Officials did not reveal the main points, although Russia has been named in the search. vadim krasikovHe is serving a future sentence in Germany in 2021 for the murder of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin who fought with Russian troops in Chechnya and then claimed asylum in Germany.

President Vladimir Putin, Requested about freeing GershkovichIt seemed as if Krasikov would have to “eliminate a bandit” by pointing to a man imprisoned by America’s best friend for allegedly killing Russian infantrymen in Chechnya. Was.

Before this, Russia has remained silent. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says such exchanges “should be carried out in complete silence.”

Traditionally, when family members are on high, “exchanges appear to be spontaneous,” said Nina Khrushcheva, a lecturer in global affairs at Unutilized College in New York and the great-granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

He cited the prisoner swap between the US and Chile in the 1970s, as well as the later swap with the US and Germany after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the 1980s, in which Dissidents included Vladimir Bukovsky and Nathan Sharansky.

In the long run, the decision “lies only in Putin’s hands,” Khrushcheva said.

In Gershkovich’s case, the change could also include concessions, possibly related to Ukraine, said Sam Green of the Center for EU Policy Research.

“Even if the immediate reason for bringing people to the (negotiating) table is Ivan and a prisoner exchange, that allows them to get right in line and say: ‘Okay, we’ve got 98% of the deal. , But if you really want to get it done, there’s one more thing we’d really like to talk about,” such as sanctions or any other factors related to Ukraine, he noted.

“The Kremlin is perfectly happy to hold on to Ivan for as long as possible. And so the incentive is for him to get as much as possible,” Green said.

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Tucker reported from Washington.