Factbox-Who are the prisoners who could feature in a future East-West swap?
2024.08.02 10:18
(Reuters) – Following the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, there are still some Westerners held in Russia or Belarus, as well as Russian and Belarusian dissidents viewed by the West as political prisoners. For its part, Moscow could still seek the release of Russians jailed abroad.
Here are some facts about people who could feature in future swaps:
FOREIGN NATIONALS HELD IN RUSSIA OR BELARUS:
GORDON BLACK
An active duty U.S. staff sergeant based in South Korea, Black was detained on May 2 in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on suspicion of stealing 10,000 roubles ($113) from his Russian girlfriend. He was also subsequently charged with threatening to kill her by grabbing her by the neck during a quarrel.
The Pentagon said Black had broken army rules by travelling to Russia without authorisation, having passed through China.
ROBERT GILMAN
A former U.S. marine, Gilman was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison in October 2022 for attacking a police officer onboard a train while he was drunk.
Gilman, who his lawyers said had come to Russia to study, told the court he did not remember the incident but had “apologised to Russia” and to the officer.
KSENIA KARELINA
A dual U.S.-Russian national, Karelina was detained on treason charges in February while visiting family in Yekaterinburg and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The FSB security service has accused the Los Angeles resident of collecting funds for a Ukrainian organisation whose ultimate beneficiary was Ukraine’s army. Her family said she donated about $50 to a New York-based non-profit that donates non-military aid to Ukraine.
MARC FOGEL
A former schoolteacher who was previously employed at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Fogel is serving a 14-year sentence for drug smuggling after he was detained in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in August 2021 with 17 grams of marijuana – which he said he uses for medical reasons – in his luggage.
At the time of his arrest, Fogel, who is in his early 60s, worked at the now-shuttered Anglo-American School in Moscow.
ROBERT ROMANOV WOODLAND
A U.S. citizen adopted from Russia as a child, Woodland was detained in January on drug possession charges which can carry up to 20 years in prison.
A Facebook (NASDAQ:) account in his name indicated he had been working as an English teacher and lived outside Moscow after returning to the country of his birth. He continues to be held in pre-trial detention.
EUGENE SPECTOR
Currently serving a 3-1/2-year sentence for bribery, Spector, who was born in Russia and then moved to the United States, was charged last August with espionage.
Before his 2021 arrest, he served as chairman of the board of Medpolymerprom Group, a company specialising in cancer-curing drugs, state media said. Spector had pleaded guilty to helping bribe an assistant to an ex-Russian deputy prime minister.
LAURENT VINATIER
A French expert on the former Soviet Union with long experience of working in Russia, Laurent Vinatier was arrested by FSB officers in a Moscow restaurant in June.
In July, Russia said he had pled guilty to illegally collecting sensitive Russian military information that could be used by hostile intelligence services.
ANDRZEJ POCZOBUT
A Belarusian journalist of Polish origin, Poczobut was in 2023 sentenced to eight years in prison in Belarus on charges of inciting ethnic hostility and undermining Belarusian security.
RUSSIAN OR BELARUSIAN DISSIDENTS:
BORIS KAGARLITSKY:
A left-wing academic and Soviet-era dissident, Kagarlitsky was in 2023 charged with “justifying terrorism”, related to his opposition to the war in Ukraine. In February, the 65 year old was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
IVAN SAFRONOV:
A former reporter for Russian newspapers, Safronov was arrested in 2020 and charged with treason, receiving a 22 year sentence in 2022.
Prosecutors said that Safronov, who was working at Russia’s space agency at the time of his arrest, had disclosed state military secrets. Now held in a Siberian penal colony, he denies the charges.
BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS:
Russian ally Belarus played a major role in Thursday’s swap, releasing German national Rico Krieger. Minsk continues to imprison several leaders of a 2020 anti-government protest movement, including Maria Kolesnikava, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, Maxim Znak and Viktar Babaryka.
Kolesnikava’s family have said they have had no communication with her since early 2023, raising concerns for her health.
RUSSIAN NATIONALS HELD OVERSEAS:
SERGEI CHERKASOV:
Currently serving a 15 year sentence in Brazil for using forged documents, Cherkasov was detained on arrival in the Netherlands in July 2022 and deported back to Brazil. Dutch intelligence said he was trying to infiltrate the International Criminal Court, which is based in the country, on behalf of Moscow.
The U.S. requested his extradition as a suspected deep cover “illegal” spy, but Brazil denied the request. At the time, Brazil said that Cherkasov will remain in its custody while a Russian request for his extradition is processed.
VLADIMIR DUNAEV
Dunaev, from Russia’s far eastern Amur region, was sentenced to five years and four months by a U.S. court in 2024 for involvement in developing and deploying Trickbot, malicious software used to attack U.S. targets.
Dunaev was extradited to the U.S. from South Korea in 2021.
ALEXANDER VINNIK
A convicted cybercriminal, Vinnik in May pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to money laundering charges related to his time operating the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, between 2011 and 2017.
He was extradited from Greece to the United States in 2022, having previously in 2020 been sentenced to five years in prison by a French court for laundering ransomware funds.
MAXIM MARCHENKO
Marchenko was in 2024 sentenced by a New York court to three years in prison for money-laundering and arms smuggling.
According to U.S. court papers, he was convicted of procuring military-grade OLED micro-displays for Russian users, a violation of sanctions law.
