Updated: Princeton High alumnus Evan Gershkovich freed by Russia in multi-country prisoner swap

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were released from prison in Russia Thursday along with dissidents as part of a complex prisoner swap deal.

The pair were freed after days of speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin was preparing to free some high-profile prisoners.

President Joe Biden’s administration pulled off the diplomatic feat, the largest prison swap of the post-Soviet era. Families of the returning Americans were welcomed to the White House.

“There’s nothing that matters more to me than protecting Americans at home and abroad,” Biden told reporters.

The U.S. pulled together a 24-person deal that required concessions from European allies. The deal included the release of a Russian assassin and others, in exchange for the freedom of Gershkovich, Whelanand, and several dissidents and others, including some German citizens.

Gershkovich’s release comes a month after he was sentenced to serve 16 years in a maximum-security prison after being wrongfully convicted on espionage charges. Gershkovich was arrested while on a reporting trip on March 29, 2023. He was the first American correspondent detained on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War. In 1986, U.S. News and World Report reporter Nicholas Daniloff was arrested by the KGB.

The Wall Street Journal has been steadfast in its support of Gershkovich and has worked hard to keep his case in the public eye and make sure his release was a priority.

“While we waited for this momentous day, we were determined to be as loud as we could be on Evan’s behalf. We are so grateful for all the voices that were raised when his was silent,” Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker wrote Thursday in a letter posted online. “We can finally say, in unison, ‘Welcome home, Evan.’”

Gershkovich, 32, grew up in Princeton, played soccer for the Princeton Union soccer club, was the captain of the Princeton High School soccer team, and played soccer for Bowdoin College. He graduated from Princeton High School in 2010.

“We are relieved and delighted by the news that Evan Gershkovich has been released from a Russian prison as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States and other countries. Our thoughts are with his family as they will soon be reunited with him after 15 months of wrongful detention,” said Kathie Foster, acting superintendent of the Princeton Public Schools. “I know I speak for all Evan’s former teachers, his classmates, and the entire Princeton Public Schools community when I share our joy of his return home to the United States and his family.”

An “Evan Gershkovich Awareness Luncheon” scheduled for Aug. 25 at Conte’s Pizza has been changed to a welcome home celebration. It is unclear whether Gershkovich will be able to attend, but his former soccer coaches hope he can. Gershkovich’s parents now live in Philadelphia but he still has many ties to the area through his coaches and former teammates.

Others freed as part of the exchange

Paul Whelan, 54, a Michigan corporate security executive accused of espionage, had been in prison in Russia since 2018.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S. and Russian citizen convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military, was also freed as part of the deal. Kurmasheva was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after being convicted of spreading false information about the Russian army.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who was serving 25 years in prison for alleged treason, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason after publicly condemning Moscow’s war in Ukraine. A permanent resident of the U.S. and a dual citizen of Russia and the United Kingdom, he was detained in 2022 hours after an interview with CNN in which he criticized Vladimir Putin’s “regime of murderers.”

Oleg Orlov, 71, is a veteran human rights campaigner convicted of discrediting the Russian military. The former head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization “Memorial” was sentenced to two and half years in prison for speaking up against Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Ilya Yashin, 41, was imprisoned for criticizing the war in Ukraine. He was sentenced to eight years and six months for spreading “false information” about the Russian army in December 2022. Yashin was a close ally of the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. He was convicted of spreading “false” statements about the circumstances related to the killings of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops in Bucha. Russia criminalized criticism of the military following its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian artist Alexandra Skochilenko, 33, was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2023 after replacing price tags with anti-war messages in a St. Petersburg grocery store.

Lilia Chanysheva, 42, was a former staffer in the Navalny’s organization, Chanysheva was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison in June 2023, after being found guilty of “organizing an extremist community.” Her sentence was later increased to nine and a half years.

Ksenia Fadeeva, 32, was sentenced to nine years in prison in December 2023. She was convicted of organizing activities for an extremist group and participating in a nonprofit organization.

Vadim Ostanin, a former staffer at Navalny’s foundation, was sentenced to nine years in prison on extremism charges.

Andrei Pivovarov, 42, an opposition activist and human rights defender, was the head of the banned Open Russia movement. He was sentenced to four years in a penal colony in July 2022.

Rico Krieger, a German citizen, was sentenced to death in Belarus in June after being charged with terrorism and mercenary activities. Krieger worked as an emergency medical technician for the German Red Cross and as an armed security officer for the U.S. Embassy in Berlin.

Kevin Lik, 18, a dual citizen of Russia and Germany, was convicted of high treason in December 2023. He was accused of filming military equipment and personnel at the Maikop garrison in Russia and providing the footage to Germany.

Dieter Voronin, a German citizen, was serving a sentence of 13 years in prison for allegedly aiding Ivan Safronov, a former journalist and adviser to the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos who was accused of treason for allegedly cooperating with German intelligence.

Herman Moyzhes, a lawyer and cycling activist who was a German citizen, was charged in July with treason for helping Russian citizens obtain residence permits in Europe.

German citizen Patrick Schoebel was arrested in January for carrying a bag containing cannabis gummy bears.