Evan Gershkovich and 23 Others Freed From Russian Prisons in Major Swap
Mr. Whelan, a former Marine and former police officer, was arrested in a Moscow hotel; prosecutors said he had a flash drive containing classified information supplied by a Russian contact. His Russian lawyer said Mr. Whelan thought the drive contained travel photos and videos.
At the time, Mr. Whelan worked in corporate security for an American auto-parts maker, BorgWarner, and had traveled several times to Russia. Relatives said that he had developed friendships with Russians, and that when he was arrested, he was there to attend a wedding.
The prisoner exchange left open the fates of other Americans and dissidents remaining in Russian prisons. In June, a court sentenced Yuri Malev, who holds American and Russian citizenship, to three and a half years in prison after he criticized the war in Ukraine on social media.
In July, Michael Travis Leake, an American rock musician, was sentenced to 13 years after prosecutors accused him of organizing a drug-trafficking ring. And Marc Fogel, a teacher at the Anglo-American School of Moscow, was sentenced in 2022 to 14 years in a penal colony on cannabis charges.
In a statement, Mr. Fogel’s relatives expressed dismay that he had not been part of the swap.
“It is inconceivable to us that Russian dissidents would be prioritized over U.S. citizens in a prisoner exchange,” they said. “Marc has been unjustly detained for far too long and must be prioritized in any swap negotiations with Russia, regardless of his level of notoriety or celebrity.”
Reporting was contributed by Richard Pérez-Peña, Ivan Nechepurenko, Valerie Hopkins, Edward Wong, Safak Timur, Andrew Higgins, Neil MacFarquhar, Alina Lobzina, Katie Rogers and Peter Baker.
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