How a historic prisoner swap was orchestrated despite strained US-Russia relations | DW News

On Thursday, a historic prisoner swap between Russia and the West was completed in Turkey. This was the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War. The exchange took place at Ankara airport - and involved 24 adults and two children. Many high-profile prisoners held in Russian jails have been released. They include American journalist Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and several Russian dissidents. Among the prisoners being returned to Russia is Vadim Krasikov. He was convicted in Germany of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park, apparently on the orders of Moscow's security services. US President Joe Biden spoke at the White House after the deal had been successfully pulled off, triumphantly announcing: "We are bringing them home."

This was a complex deal that involved secret negotiations and several countries, including Germany, each of whom admitted that the exchange required some tough decisions. Though they included high profile American detainees, the White House says there was "no direct engagement" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Chapter Breakdown
0:00 - 2:55 - US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz react to prisoner swap
2:56 - 7:37 - Danielle Gilbert, Political Scientist at Northwestern University, explains the difficult decisions taken to engineer the prisoner swap
7:38 - 13:01 - Joshua Yaffa, journalist and friend of Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, describes the ordeal experienced by Evan and the sense of relief at his release

#prisonerswap #evangershkovich #russianprisoners

Follow DW on social media:

[ekaterinakarnaukhova]

US, Russia and others.. so hard to prepare and name all countries involved ?? Fantastic journalism

[causa]

Scholz did not make a hard decision. He did what he was told to do by the USA.

[jmhventure]

What else can you not trade? You traded you principles, honor and the so called rule based order... one day you may even trade your own mother when that suits you.

[JoskyJojofan]

Welcome back Vadim Krasikov, our hero!!! 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺💪💪💪💪






P. S. If you think he is a monster, find information about this terrorist named zelimkhan hanganshvili, whom he killed, and then you will know the truth, and you too will start to consider Vadim a hero and a patriot of his homeland!

[Yanotskun]

10:22 "your empire needs you" on t-shirt

[cliffshavage]

There was no direct involvement with Putin 😅 are we fools

[urbansenicar]

Why is it OK to host a notorious Chechen fighter in the first place?

[Kinjshàl]

“It was not an easy decision” like he has a say 😅

[annaminido]

So Russia got its citizens back and USA got Russian citizens too. Why on earth couldn't more Americans be traded????

[alex]

Happy everyone actually benefits out of this, hopefully this leads to more deescalation.

[Herodotus__]

Scholz, your master says, "Jump, you jump!"

[HorsePower]

As usual the chess master Putin plays the west 🤣🤣

[jac]

It’s embarrassing to see that our timid chancellor had to kneel down and take the order from Washington 😡 . Are we becoming like British??

[R_D]

They wanted to trade Navalny for the assassin, but now they got 8 people for the assassin..

[wilg]

Hopefully this is a good step to peace

[imsroy]

Germany is a client state of America. There are 119 American millitary bases in Germany.

[minhoonoon]

When your master tells you to sit, you sit.

[D_LEGEND]

How come DW always invites specialists and professors that agree with everything they place to society 🤔??

[darkdan]

Don't go to Russia unless you want to become a bargaining chip...

[AlternativeBrew]

One does not see how this was such a difficult decision for the Germans. They have already swallowed worse conditions under Mr Scholtz.
Just think back to the promise that was given that the Noord Stream pipeline would be destroyed that he accepted so gracefully. And!, the fact that after the deed was done, , rhey still dutifully accepted that there was no need for investigation, and whatever investigative results came out was not fit for their consumption.