Europe | Rescue mission
The deal that freed Evan Gershkovich was more than a prisoner swap
It freed Russian prisoners of conscience as well as Westerners taken hostage by Vladimir Putin
IT IS THE biggest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the cold war. It involved 26 prisoners held in seven different countries, including Russian dissidents; spies serving the Kremlin; American journalists; and a German mercenary. It resembled a remake of a spy film set in the 1980s, when Vladimir Putin was serving as a KGB officer in Dresden.
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