It took almost 500 days to get WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich out of Russia. Paul Whelan has served nearly six years in Russian prisons. According to multiple news outlets, both will leave Russia today in a multi-nation swap deal for Russians to be named later. A third American, radio reporter Alsu Kurmasheva, will also get released after her arrest last year:

SPECIAL REPORT: A prisoner swap is underway that's expected to see the release of Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva. https://t.co/H9n7JKbYS7 pic.twitter.com/90AnuZlk77

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 1, 2024

Russia freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan in an exchange with the US, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

It cited people familiar with the situation who asked for anonymity to discuss matters that have yet to be made public.

Gershkovich and Whelan were on their way to undisclosed locations outside Russia, per the outlet.

It said they had been exchanged Russian prisoners being held by the US and unnamed allied nations. It didn't say who.

ABC News reports that the swap involved multiple countries, which adds to the mystery of what Putin gets for the trades. Neither ABC nor Bloomberg has identified the traded prisoners on the US side, but Politico hears that "more than a dozen" people will get traded, and that at least one of the other countries is Germany, Moscow will get "a number of Russians":

It was not clear who is part of the swap. Among the Americans in Russian custody are journalists Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, along with former Marine Paul Whelan. German Rico Krieger, who had been sentenced to death in Belarus, is one of multiple Germans being held by Russia.

Business Insider picked up on a TASS report to identity at least some of the Russians traded. The state-run Russian news service named four men traded for the two Americans as Alexander Vinnik, Vladislav Klyushin, Vadim Konoschenko and Maxim Marchenko. However, all four of these were imprisoned in the US, so there seems to be more to the trade we haven't yet learned.

None of the four got convicted of violent crimes, apparently, and none of them seem as significant as Viktor Bout, the "merchant of death" arms dealer traded for Brittney Griner. One has to wonder why Putin took such an interest in Vinnik and Klysuhin, whose crimes don't appear to have provided him any direct benefit. Vinnik operated a cryptocurrency exchange that was a cover for money laundering, while Klyushin ran a "hack-to-trade" scheme that sounds like it was for his own personal benefit as well. Konoschenko and Marchenko smuggled sensitive US military technology and electronics to Russia, which makes Putin's interest more obvious.

The DoJ's statement after his conviction doesn't suggest that Klyushin was operating on behalf of Russia. It does also name other Russians as co-conspirators, though, who all remained at large as of February 2023:

Vladislav Klyushin, a/k/a “Vladislav Kliushin,” 42, of Moscow, Russia, was convicted following a 10-day jury trial of conspiring to obtain unauthorized access to computers, and to commit wire fraud and to commit securities fraud, and with substantive counts of obtaining unauthorized access to computers, wire fraud and securities fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for May 4, 2023. Klyushin was arrested in Sion, Switzerland in March 2021 and extradited to the United States in December 2021 to face federal charges in Boston. 

Klyushin was charged along with two Russian co-conspirators: Ivan Ermakov and Nikolai Rumiantcev. Two others, Mikhail Vladimirovich Irzak and Igor Sergeevich Sladkov, were charged in a separate indictment. All four co-conspirators remain at large. In October 2018, Ermakov was also charged in federal court in Pittsburgh in connection with his alleged role in hacking and related disinformation operations targeting international anti-doping agencies, sporting federations, and anti-doping officials.

Did Putin demand Klyushin back because Klyushin was conducting this fraud on behalf of the regime in Moscow? Or did he demand Klyushin and Vinnik to ensure that Russia got an imbalanced trade in their favor? We may never get the answer to that question. 

It's pretty clear why Putin wanted Konoschenko and Marchenko back, though -- for the same reason he wanted Bout in exchange for Griner. Those two provided Russia with highly valuable technology that Putin needs now more than ever. Putin could hope that they can reopen for business, although it would have to be someplace other than the US.

Left unanswered so far: who else did Putin get back from other countries? These four were all imprisoned in the US. 

We'll update the story as developments warrant. The release of both Americans is excellent news, and hopefully their return to normal life will be smooth and joyful.

Update: Former US ambassador John Sullivan calls it a "great day," but reminds us that the Russians are getting value out of these hostages, too.

SPECIAL REPORT: A prisoner swap is underway that's expected to see the release of Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva. https://t.co/H9n7JKbYS7 pic.twitter.com/90AnuZlk77

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 1, 2024

Indeed. But I'd argue that, so far, it's not nearly as imbalanced in value as the Griner-for-Bout trade.  

Update: What about Marc Fogel? Russia has held him for three years over a marijuana charge:

U.S. Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman and U.S. Representatives Mike Kelly, Chris Deluzio , and Guy Reschenthaler released the following statement:

“As news of a potential prisoner exchange is being reported, we urge that any swap include Pennsylvania’s Marc Fogel, along with Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich,” said the lawmakers. “Marc is a Pennsylvania teacher with severe health issues who has been unjustly imprisoned in a Russian prison for three years, and as the congressional members who represent Marc and his family, we have been pushing to bring Marc home as quickly as possible. As negotiations are ongoing with the Russian Federation, we respectfully request that any potential prisoner swap include Marc Fogel.”

Fogel is currently detained in a Russian prison.

He was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian penal colony in 2022 for drug trafficking after he was arrested for possessing medical marijuana, which was prescribed by a doctor in the United States.

That seems like a no-brainer for a trade like this, and yet his name has not come up in any reports.