The prisoner exchange with Russia

 

"Buenas noches" Putin said to the spy children - they didn't know they were Russians

The two children of the Russian spy couple who were handed over to Russia from Slovenia yesterday only learned on the plane to Moscow that they were Russians, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

- You probably saw when the children came down the plane stairs that they don't speak Russian and that Putin greeted them in Spanish. He said 'buenas noches' (good evening), Peskov said at a press conference on Friday, according to Reuters.

The children must have asked their parents who it was that met them. The family spoke Spanish and lived under Argentine identities in Slovenia, where the parents were convicted of espionage on Wednesday.

In the 00s, it was revealed that Russian spies in the United States had plans to recruit agents' children to also become spies, writes the Wall Street Journal. Several in the tangle were revealed and arrested in 2010, including the parents of Alexander Vavilov.

- It was traumatic, he told the BBC as a 19-year-old nine years later.

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Kremlin: Krasikov works for Russian security services

Vadim Krasikov, the Russian convicted torpedo extradited to Russia in the prisoner exchange, works for the Russian security service FSB. The Kremlin confirms this on Friday.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Krasikov in a German prison allegedly told a German guard that "Russia will not leave me to rot in prison."

Krasikov was convicted in a German court after murdering a Chechen former commander in a park in 2019. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has stressed after the prisoner exchange that it was a difficult decision to release him.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the prisoner exchange, which includes 24 people and is the largest since the Cold War, could be carried out after negotiations between the FSB and the US CIA.

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Russian torpedo welcomed by Putin - to receive a medal

At the same time as several released prisoners landed on American soil, Russian President Vladimir Putin received several Russian spies and convicted murderers who were included in the prisoner exchange.

Pictures from Moscow show how the president, among other things, shakes hands with the torpedo Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted of murder in Berlin. Putin states that the released prisoners will be awarded medals, according to Reuters.

A total of eight prisoners returned to Russia from countries in the West. 16 prisoners were released from Russia, including Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and questioned the lack of details about the agreement.

"Our negotiators are always a shame for us," he writes.
Vladimir Putin receives the exchanged Russians, among them a spy couple convicted in Slovenia and their two children. On August 1, 2024.

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Reactions to the prisoner exchange
Analysis: Both Putin and Biden gain from the exchange but only one of them loses

The prisoner exchange with Russia is a real prestige victory for US President Joe Biden, who is already polishing his legacy. This is what both the BBC's Anthony Zurcher and Reuters' Matt Spetalnick and Andrea Shalal write in their analyses.

Possibly the goodwill also spills over to the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris - but so can the criticism. It has come quickly from pundits, Republicans and Democrats alike.

Several prisoner exchanges under Biden's administration have "upended decades of decisions that show you don't negotiate with tyrants to get Americans free," Obama administration foreign policy adviser Brett Bruen told Zurcher and Spetalnick.

Putin, for his part, they write, has better relations with Trump - but could not be sure that the offer would remain if there is a change of power in the White House in November.

That the exchange ends now shows that the communication channels between the countries are open, despite historically bad relations, writes Nathan Hodge for CNN.

He sees the deal as a victory for Putin, who has traded political prisoners for criminals and spies. They will be richly rewarded, if the Russian tradition holds. This sends a familiar message, Hodge writes:

"If you work for us, you will be rewarded and protected. And if you betray us, we will remember it for a long time.”