Prisoner exchanges during the Biden administration: A timeline

On Thursday, the United States and Russia carried out the largest prisoner exchange since the post-Soviet era. In this operation, Moscow released Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, as well as dissidents such as Vladimir Kara-Murza, as part of a multinational deal involving two dozen people.

The agreement involved 24 people and the conclusion of negotiations that, according to sources familiar with the operation, lasted several months, as it also involved the participation of other European countries that also released Russians they had in custody.

Several similar incidents involving the exchange of prisoners have occurred during the administration of US President Joe Biden.

April 2022

On April 27, 2022, one year and three months after Biden’s arrival at the White House, the Kremlin confirmed the exchange of US Navy veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko.

The American had been sentenced by a Russian court in July 2020 to nine years in prison after being accused of attacking police officers while drunk. During the trial, the man had pleaded not guilty and insisted that he did not remember the incident.

Yaroshenko, meanwhile, had been arrested in Liberia in 2010 for drug trafficking. He was then transferred to the United States where a court sentenced him to 20 years in prison, which he had been serving since 2011.

“The negotiations that brought Trevor (Reed) home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly. His safe return is a testament to the priority my Administration places on bringing home Americans taken prisoner and wrongly detained abroad,” Biden said at the time.

These events were of great relevance, mainly because they occurred shortly after the start of “those special military operations” orchestrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, which led to a war that continues today.

December 2022

On December 8, 2022, the US and Russian governments confirmed another prisoner exchange. This time, it involved American basketball player Brittney Gringer and arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “merchant of death.”

The athlete was arrested in February of that same year at Moscow airport in Russia, after authorities discovered that she was carrying oil containing cannabis in her luggage.

Bout, the prisoner who was exchanged in this operation, had been selling weapons to other traffickers and governments around the world. The man, who became one of the most wanted men on the planet, was serving a 25-year prison sentence.

He was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008, and two years later he was extradited to the United States where he had to face American justice for “conspiring to support terrorists and kill Americans.”

September 2023

On September 18, 2023, through the mediation of the Qatari government, the United States and Iran signed an exchange of 10 prisoners, five from each country. The agreement provided for the unfreezing of $6 billion by the White House from oil-related business dealings whose money had been held in South Korea since 2018.

The Iranian-American citizens who were released were businessmen Emad Shargi and Siamak Namaki, and environmentalist Morad Tahbaz. The identities of the other two prisoners were not disclosed at their express request.

The Iranians in US custody were Mehrdad Moin-Ansari, Kambiz Attar-Kashani, Reza Sarhangpour-Kafrani, Amin Hassanzadeh and Kaveh Afrasiabi. They had been deprived of their liberty for violating “US sanctions against Iran.”

However, this agreement sparked a great controversy in the country, with strong criticism from the Republican bench, since it was understood that the White House was paying for the release of its citizens.

Basically, because that exchange occurred after the release of $6 billion and the transfer of that money from South Korea – where it was being held – to bank accounts in Qatar was confirmed.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s predecessor in the White House, had ordered the freezing of the funds as one of the measures adopted after withdrawing the US from the historic nuclear agreement reached in 2015 between the Islamic Republic and several powers.

December 2023

On December 20, 2023, the United States government confirmed that the exchange of 34 prisoners in exchange for the release of Alex Saab, considered the right-hand man of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, had been completed.

Ten of them were US citizens, six of whom were considered to have been unjustly arrested, and 24 were Venezuelan political prisoners, including four opponents.

Among those released was Roberto Abdul, president of the NGO Súmate, who was arrested by officials of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) for his participation in the organization of the primary elections of October 22.

Also present were Henry Alviarez, Pedro Urruchurtu and Claudia Mancero, who were very close to the circle of opposition leader María Corina Machado, as well as Alcides Bracho, Alonso Meléndez, Emilio Negrín, Gabriel Blanco, Néstor Astudillo and Reynaldo Cortes, who had been deprived of liberty accused of conspiracy and association to commit crimes.

Among the six Americans released were Eyvin Hernandez and Jerrel Kenemore. Both were arrested while trying to illegally enter Venezuela from Colombia through the state of Táchira. They were also charged with conspiracy and association to commit crimes.

Joseph Ryan Cristella and Savoi Wright were also on the list. There are two names that were never revealed.

Shortly before the exchange was announced, it was learned that American citizens Airan Berry and Luke Denman, who had been arrested for their participation in the protests to overthrow the Maduro government in 2020, were serving sentences in Venezuela.

August 2024

On August 1, 2024, the release of 24 people was confirmed in the largest prisoner exchange between Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and the United States since the Cold War.

US President Joe Biden welcomed three Americans arriving from Ankara early Friday morning at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland as part of the largest prisoner swap with Russia since the Cold War.

Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden received journalists from the Wall Street JournalEvan Gershkovich, and of Radio Free Europe/Radio LibertyAlsu Kurmasheva, as well as former US Marine Paul Whelan. Whelan, jailed since 2018, was sentenced to 16 years for espionage and has been the longest serving prisoner in Russia. Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 in Russia and sentenced last month to 16 years in prison.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the Russian citizens who were exchanged at the airport. Among them was Vadim Krasikov, a Kremlin hitman who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a Georgian citizen in a Berlin park.

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