Who are the two Americans prisoners who are being exchanged?

A Russian court previously found that the reporter Gershkovich was collecting classified information about the activities of metal-producer Uralvagonzavod in the Sverdlovsk region as part of a CIA assignment in March 2023.

The court likewise concluded that former Marine Whelan was trying to obtain information about cadets of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) educational institution.

There is no information yet about who the two Americans were exchanged for.

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‘Olympics glorifies men punching women in the face’: fresh boxing controversy sparks outrage

While allowing Russian athletes to compete in the Olympics is a big no-no for the International Olympics Committee, games officials apparently have no qualms about allowing female boxers to be beaten up by men if the latter identify themselves as female.

💬“As if the Satanic display at the opening ceremony wasn’t enough, the Olympics glorifies men punching women in the face with the intent of knocking them unconscious,” American swimmer Riley Gaines fumed on X.

Gaines made this remark after Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting – two boxers who were disqualified from the women’s world championships in New Delhi last year after failing a gender test – were allowed to compete in female boxing matches in the Paris Olympic.

Today, Khelif was declared the winner as Italy's Angela Carini abandoned the fight after just 46 seconds.

💬 “Imagine training your WHOLE life, getting good enough to earn a spot on the Olympic team, hoping to a win an Olympic medal.... then you're told you have to fight a man,” Gaines added in another post.

💬“So punching a woman in the face is apparently ok as long as the man doing it says he’s a woman and it’s at the Olympics,” TikTok operator Chaya Raichik mused.

💬 “How brain washed does someone have to be to watch a man physically BEATING a woman and view it as anything besides MORALLY WRONG and EVIL,” another X user complained.

Payton McNabb, an American volleyball player who was left partially paralyzed after a transgender player from the opposing team hit her head with a ball, told media that she is “disgusted” by this situation. “It used to be illegal for men to beat up women, and now people are putting it on TV and watching it. It's such a weird reality we are living in now,” she told the MailOnline.

Australia's boxing team captain Caitlin Parker also expressed concern over Khelif and Lin being allowed to compete against women in combat sports, saying it "can be incredibly dangerous."

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Decades of diplomacy: notable prisoner exchanges between the US and Soviet Union/Russia

Amid reports about a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West, Sputnik provides a historical overview of major prisoner exchanges between Russia (and the former Soviet Union) and the United States, highlighting key swaps from the Cold War era to the present day.

🔸December 2022

Russian citizen Viktor Bout, arrested for allegedly trading arms, was exchanged for American Brittney Griner, who was serving a sentence in Russia for attempting to illegally bring in hashish oil. The exchange took place at Abu Dhabi airport (UAE).

🔸April 2022

Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, detained in 2010 in Liberia and sentenced in the US for drug trafficking, was exchanged for US citizen Trevor Reed, who was convicted in Russia for assaulting police officers.

🔸July 2010

The largest prisoner exchange between the US and Russia since the Cold War (until now) took place at Vienna International Airport, Austria. Washington handed over ten Russian agents to Moscow: Anna Chapman, Vladimir and Lydia Guryev, Mikhail Vasenkov, Natalia Pereverzeva, Mikhail Kutsik, Andrey Bezrukov, Elena Vavilova, Mikhail Semenko, and Vicky Pelaez. In exchange, Russia pardoned and released four Russian citizens, including former GRU officer Sergey Skripal, who was sentenced to 13 years for passing information to British intelligence, and scientist Igor Sutyagin, who was convicted of treason.

🔸October 1986

Soviet intelligence officer Gennady Zakharov, accused of espionage, was exchanged for American journalist and US News and World Report bureau chief Nicholas Daniloff, also accused of espionage.

🔸April 1979

At New York's Kennedy Airport, Soviet intelligence officers Valdik A. Enger and Rudolf P. Chernyaev, who operated under the cover of UN secretariat employees, were exchanged for dissidents Alexander Ginzburg, Eduard Kuznetsov, Mark Dymshits, Valentin Moroz, and Georgy Vins. Enger and Chernyaev were detained in May 1978 and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

🔸October 1963

By mutual agreement between the US and Soviet governments, Soviet agents Ivan Egorov, a former UN secretariat employee, and his wife Alexandra were exchanged for American priest Walter Ciszek, arrested in 1941 on espionage charges. Along with Ciszek, chemist Marvin Makinen, who was arrested in 1961 and sentenced to eight years for espionage, was handed over to the American side.

🔸February 1962

On the border between West and East Berlin, on the Glienicke Bridge, Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel (real name – William August Fisher) was exchanged for American pilot Francis Gary Powers. Abel had been in the US since 1948 as an undercover spy. He was arrested in June 1957 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Powers conducted reconnaissance flights over the USSR, and on May 1, 1960, his U-2 aircraft was shot down near Sverdlovsk. A Soviet court sentenced the pilot to 10 years in prison for espionage.

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