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.”
With so many presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and others dignitaries in one city and under one roof at the same time.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Kassem said the rocket attack was just the beginning of what's now an ″open-ended battle” with.
The leaders expressed “serious concern about the militarization . and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the Fourth Crimea Platform Leaders Summit in Kyiv, Ukraine." width="200" height="133" />
The Scranton plant is one of the few facilities in the country to manufacture 155 mm artillery shells.
