A revealing Russia-US prisoner exchange

Claiming to be a diplomatic coup for Moscow, the operation that freed eight Russians held captive in return for the release of sixteen Western inmates and Russian democratic prisoners was seen by the Kremlin as a validation of the hostage-taking tactic.

In many ways, the exchange of twenty-four prisoners negotiated by Russia and the United States—hailed by US President Joe Biden as a “feat of diplomacy and friendship”—is historic. On Thursday, August 1, sixteen Western hostages and Russian political detainees—among them American journalists Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal and his colleague Alsou Kourmacheva of Radio Free Europe—were released.

It is the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War, to start with. With the exception of the location, which has changed to an airport in Turkey rather than the well-known “spy bridge” in Berlin (the exchange now occurs on foot across the Glienicker Brücke), the operation bears all the hallmarks of the Cold War era.

Thanks in part to a special communication channel set up by Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin during their summit in Geneva in June 2021, the exchange involved the CIA, the State Department, the White House, and several allied governments and was conducted in the utmost secrecy for over a year at multiple levels against the backdrop of the Ukrainian conflict.

What a waste of diplomacy. Joe Biden’s “friendship” with Europe, which includes cooperation from Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, is directed towards European nations rather than Russia. Germany is the primary target of this alliance. Early on in the talks, it was evident that Vadim Krassikov—a Russian operative who was given a life sentence in Germany for killing a Chechen opponent in Berlin in 2019—was Moscow’s main player. Mr. Putin has also made public tributes to Krassikov.

But for Berlin, and particularly for Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, his release meant that Moscow’s orders to carry out such political killings abroad would now be free to do so. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had to be persuaded to concede on this point by Mr. Biden. In exchange, Berlin insisted that the swap include a number of German citizens as well as well-known Russian democratic campaigners who are detained in Russia, such as Vladimir Kara-Murza.

An abhorrent behavior

The leading opposition figure to Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny, ought to have also been freed; Berlin insisted on his inclusion in the negotiations. His death in prison, which is still unsolved, was revealed by Moscow on February 16 while the negotiations were proceeding in the utmost secrecy. This demonstrates the degree to which the Kremlin is still operating according to procedures from the KGB of the Soviet period.

The fact that the Russian citizens whose release the Kremlin arranged and who were greeted with great fanfare upon their return are either criminals, similar to Mr. Krassikov, or spies, similar to the Russian agent couple who resided in Slovenia under false Argentinean identities, speaks equally volumes about the nature of the Moscow regime.

The distinction with the Cold War lies in the practice of hostage diplomacy, which has turned into an abhorrent tactic favored by governments such as Russia and Iran. Now, anyone living abroad in these countries runs the possibility of being detained and used as a pawn in protracted negotiations. Among them is the Frenchman Laurent Vinatier, who has been in custody in Moscow since June. While we should be happy that sixteen wrongfully imprisoned individuals are now free, we must not misinterpret Moscow’s intentions; a new détente is not imminent.

A revealing Russia-US prisoner exchange

By nr39r

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