World leaders hail landmark US-Russia prisoner swap

  • 2 months ago
Following a massive prisoner swap between Russia and the West, world leaders expressed a mix of relief and concern, hinting at the complex diplomacy and underlying tensions involved in the exchange.
Transcript
00:0024 people have been released in the biggest prisoner exchange between Russia and Western
00:06countries since the Cold War.
00:09Sixteen people were freed from Russian custody, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan
00:14Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan.
00:22Eight Russians were released from prisons in return from the US, Germany, Norway, Poland
00:27and Slovenia.
00:34Turkey's national intelligence led an extensive prisoner exchange, which took place on the
00:39runway at Ankara Airport earlier on Thursday, August 1.
01:01President Vladimir Putin greeted the exchanged Russian nationals after the swap.
01:07Among them was Vadim Krasikov, the Kremlin hitman who was serving a life sentence for
01:12murdering a Georgian citizen in a Berlin park.
01:27State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel called the exchange a feat of diplomacy.

Recommended