By ERIC TUCKER, DASHA LITVINOVA and MATTHEW LEE WASHINGTON (AP) — A massive prisoner swap involving the United States and Russia was underway Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said.…
FILE – Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested on espionage charges, listens to the verdict in court in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2020.
The trade followed years of secretive back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s President Joe Biden placed securing the release of Americans held wrongfully overseas at the top of his foreign policy agenda for the six months before he leaves office. In his Oval Office address to the American people discussing his recent decision to drop his bid for a second term, the Democrat said, “We’re also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.
He had more than a dozen closed hearings over the extension of his pretrial detention or appeals for his release. He was taken to the courthouse in handcuffs and appeared in the defendants’ cage, often smiling for the many cameras.
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