WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free, the White House said.
Astonishing in scope, 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 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The deal was the latest in a series of prisoner swaps negotiated between Russia and the U.S. in the past two years but the first to require significant concessions from other countries, with seven nations agreeing to give up 24 prisoners. It was trumpeted as a “diplomatic feat” by President Joe Biden, who called the news an “incredible relief” and said the detainees' “brutal ordeal was over.”
An entire Palestinian community fled their tiny West Bank village last fall after repeated threats from Israeli settlers with.
One of the Navy's amphibious warships suffered a major mechanical failure earlier this week that forced it to return to port.
US Military Warnings of Dire Situation in Afghanistan During Withdrawal Ignored, House GOP Report Finds
Warnings from U.S. military officers about the Taliban's swift advances as American troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.
The military said the gunman approached the Allenby Bridge Crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck and opened fire at.
