During the first press conference since the Ukrainian invasion, Vladimir Putin indicated he was open to a deal involving a prisoner swap with the US.
Putin says Russia in talks with US on exchanging jailed Gershkovich and Whelan
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November 28, 2023 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12799313/Wall-Street-Journal-reporter-Evan-Gershkovich-stay-locked-brutal-Russian-jail-Christmas-secret-Moscow-court-hearing-extends-detention-spy-charges-end-January.html
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will stay locked up in brutal Russian jail for Christmas after secret Moscow court hearing extends his detention on spy charges
The hearing in Moscow took place behind closed doors because authorities say details of the criminal case against the American journalist are classified.
08/29/2023 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12458275/Paul-Whelan-video-Russian-prison.html
Whelan, 53, who has Canadian and US citizenship, was shown at a Russian max-security prison in footage filmed by Kremlin-backed channel Russia Today. Whelan traveled to the Russian capital for a friend's wedding in 2018, but he was arrested there and sentenced to 16 years in jail following a closed trial. He is recognized as 'wrongfully detained' by the US government. His family, who have not seen him since he was jailed in June 2020, said they were glad to see 'the fight remains in his eyes'. In RT footage filmed in May but only just released, he is shown queuing with fellow inmates in the prison yard, stitching together clothing in a factory, and sitting with a tray of gray-looking food in a canteen. He is also approached by the RT camera crew but refuses to do an interview....
08/24/2023
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12440087/Jailed-WSJ-reporter-Evan-Gershkovich-arrives-hearing-extending-detention.html
WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich is ordered back to grim Moscow prison for ANOTHER three months before his trial after he was arrested on spying charges
US citizen Evan Gershokovich, who was jailed in Russia on espionage charges which can carry up to 20 years in prison, has had his pre-trial detention extended to November 30. Gershkovich arrived at court for a hearing to extend his arrest in a white prison van and was led handcuffed out of the vehicle wearing jeans, sneakers and a shirt. A 31-year-old United States citizen, Gershkovich was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip to Russia in late March. He will now spend at least three further months behind bars before he is given a trial, Interfax reports. Gershkovich and his newspaper deny the allegations, and the US government declared him to be wrongfully detained. Inset: At the Moscow City Court in April.
06/11/2023
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~American musician and ex US paratrooper is arrested in Moscow on suspicion of drug trafficking and faces up to 12 years in jail if convicted
American Travis Leake, 51, has been held for two months by a Moscow court on suspicion of the illegal production, sale or shipment of narcotics on a large scale. He faces up to 12 years in jail if convicted. A Russian woman reported him to law enforcement authorities for supplying drugs, according to media reports in Russia. Leake has lived and worked in Russia for more than a decade. Before this he fought in Iraq for the US military, it is reported. He was detained with a close Russian woman friend, named as Valeria Grobanyuk. Pictured inset are police supposedly entering his apartment and Leake being detained....
05/23/2023
https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-court-orders-wall-street-journal-reporter-evan-gershkovich-held-3-more-months-state-media?test=d19cd7c3ab6b6d98e91653bc59c3df12
BREAKING NEWS: Russian court orders Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich held 3 more months: state media
05/14/2023 Griner says national anthem ‘hits different’ after Russian detainment
‘Sunday Morning Futures’ anchor Maria Bartiromo reacts to WNBA player Brittney Griner’s national anthem comments after being detained in Russia....
https://nypost.com/2023/03/24/our-son-is-a-forgotten-american-hostage-suffering-in-russian/
Our son is a forgotten American hostage suffering in a Russian labor prison
...About two dozen Americans are in Russian prisons or penal colonies — repurposed Soviet gulag labor camps built in the 1930s.
Perhaps you’ve heard the names of one or two who have some celebrity....
....Jimmy was tried behind closed doors with no jury and no representation from the US Embassy allowed.
When an interpreter tried to translate for him, the court silenced him.
The judge predictably declared him guilty and sentenced him to 12.5 years in a Russian penal colony — a remote, isolated institution designed to break the spirits and wills of prisoners.
We’re proud to say IK-17 has failed to break Jimmy’s spirit and will — but it has destroyed his health.
He now suffers from a spinal issue, osteochondrosis, as well as a failing liver and hypertension that wasn’t present prior to his incarceration.
On Aug. 10 last year, Jimmy collapsed because of a stroke, his left side temporarily paralyzed.....
01/19/2023 Trial resumes for David Barnes, American detained in Russia - ABC News
01/14/2023 
Zack Shahin, 58, (left and inset) is serving a 53-year-prison sentence on charges of fraud, embezzlement and other financial crimes. His heartbroken family insists he is innocent and is being illegally detained for crimes that are false and politically motivated as they desperately fight for his release. His health has been deteriorating as he battles an infection in his lungs and rotting flesh and skin sores, as his family believes his condition is far worse than they know. The family submitted mercy letters to the State Department on November 23, 2022 and after several revisions they were sent to the UAE December 6. But, while this was taking place the Shahin's were unaware that the US had been negotiating the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner (right) -who was released from a Russian prison December 8, 2022 after the US reached a deal returning international arms dealer, Viktor Bout - that the UAE helped facilitate.
Fri, 13 Jan 2023 21:55:46 -0600
https://www.businessinsider.com/freed-russia-arms-dealer-viktor-bout-backs-out-ukraine-fight-2023-1Freed Russian Arms Dealer Bout U-Turns on Promise to Fight in Ukraine
https://www.foxnews.com/world/navy-vet-taylor-dudley-released-russia-near-year-long-imprisonment
Navy vet Taylor Dudley released from Russia after near year-long imprisonment...The circumstances of Dudley’s detainment remain unclear, though some reporting suggested he was arrested after crossing into Russia during a visit to Poland for a music festival just months after Moscow invaded Ukraine and as relations between the U.S. and Russia were crumbling....
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11566643/American-woman-jailed-Russia-time-Brittney-Griner-speaks-out.html
- Sarah Krivanek was jailed in Russia in February for assaulting her ex-boyfriend
- She insisted it was self-defense and presented photos to prove that he beat her
- Krivanek, an English teacher, was sentenced to 15 months in a penal colony
- She was deported by Russia on December 5 and returned home to the US
- She says unlike Griner, she received no help from the State Department ...
12/08/2022
Basketball star Brittney Griner freed in prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout
....Griner was freed from a Russian penal colony on Thursday in a prisoner exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News.
U.S. and Russian officials have expressed optimism in recent weeks about a potential deal for Griner. A top Russian official said last week that a deal was possible before year’s end.....
11/15/2022 Locked up abroad Brittney Griner’s grim penal colony fate: ‘You’re starved just by the food’
Brittney Griner will endure merciless conditions inside a Russian penal colony — where rancid food, extreme isolation and tyrannical wardens await, ex-inmates, their relatives and experts told The Post...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-11352347/PICTURED-Brittney-Griner-sits-cramped-Russian-cell-appeal-hearing-drug-charges.html
10/25/2022
Brittney Griner will serve FULL nine-year sentence in Russian penal colony for cannabis smuggling as Moscow court rejects appeal: White House blasts 'sham judicial proceeding' and demands her immediate releasettps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11125699/Is-America-hand-worlds-notorious-arms-dealer-Merchant-Death-Russia.html
No matter how lavish the accommodation laid on for him by his grateful clients, Viktor Bout (left) preferred to bed down at night with his helicopter crew, sleeping as close as possible to a chopper that was ready to fly in minutes. In his line of work, a fast getaway was essential. Bout inspired Nicolas Cage's arms dealer character in the 2005 film Lord Of War (right), whose facetious boast that he supplied 'every army but the Salvation Army' could almost have been said of Bout, who often equipped both sides in a conflict....
Wed, 10 Aug 2022
What Brittney Griner's Life Will Be Like Inside a Russian Penal Colony
https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-man-detained-russia-months-due-political-purposes/story?id=87831281
Texas man detained in Russia for months due to 'political purposes': Congressman David Barnes has been held since January in a Moscow jail.
More than six months after Texas father David Barnes was arrested by Russian authorities, his family is calling on officials in Washington to do more to try to facilitate his release. ...David Barnes has been held since January in a Moscow jail. He is one of several Americans being detained in Russia, but unlike Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan or Marc Fogel, law enforcement in Moscow has alleged that he engaged in criminal activity in the United States -- an accusation that has bewildered members of his family, American prosecutors and now, his local congressman.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11085077/The-American-woman-jailed-Russia-youve-never-heard-of.html The OTHER American woman jailed in Russia: Colorado teacher, 46, has been locked up for eight months in the same jail as Brittney Griner after a bust-up with her abusive local boyfriend - but unlike the WNBA star, no one is rushing to bring her home
Sarah Krivanek is a 46-year-old teacher and mother from Colorado who has been behind bars in Moscow since last year, when she was arrested for assaulting her abusive, drunk Russian boyfriend. He had beaten her up in a drunken rage and she retaliated by cutting him in the nose. Russian media states that she tried to slice it off, but she insists it was nothing more than a scratch....
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11084401/Russia-confirms-talks-swap-Brittney-Griner-Merchant-Death-arms-dealer.html
Russia confirms it IS in talks with White House to swap Brittney Griner for 'Merchant of Death' arms dealer - one day after WNBA star was sentenced to nine years in prisonSpeaking during a visit to Cambodia on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia is 'ready to discuss the topic' but that the US should refrain from 'public diplomacy'.
REPORT: U.S. OFFERS RUSSIA DEAL TO FREE BRITTNEY GRINER, PAUL WHELAN
July 9, 2022 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10990757/Russia-warns-hype-Brittney-Griner-not-help-case.html
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Ryabkov, top right, said President Biden's correspondence with women's basketball star Brittney Griner, left, made her release less likely
July 7, 2022 Basketball star Brittney Griner pleads guilty to drug charges in Russia
July 6, 2022
Subject: Russia Says Brittney Griner Could Appeal Verdict in Her Drug Smuggling Case - The New York Times Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2022 10:26:11 -0500
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/06/world/europe/brittney-griner-verdict-russia.html~~~~~~~~~~~
WNBA star Brittney Griner is 'terrified' in Russian prison after 134 days and is being used as 'political pawn' for swap with 'Merchant of Death' arms dealer
locked up in US, wife claims - as star's trial beginsBrittney Griner, the star WNBA player who is currently detained in Russia on drug charges, is set to start trial today and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
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