Whereabouts unknown Growing list of missing Russian political prisoners fuels speculation of an imminent swap

The list of Russian political prisoners whose whereabouts are unknown continued to grow on Wednesday as rumors swirl that a swap could be in the works. Reuters confirmed that opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza has been moved out of his prison in the Omsk region, bringing the total number of prisoners confirmed to have been transferred to seven. Meanwhile, a lawyer for U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, who has been imprisoned in Russia since 2018, said she has been unable to confirm her client’s whereabouts. Here’s what we know about the missing prisoners and the possibility of an exchange.

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The whereabouts of at least seven Russian political prisoners are unknown after their lawyers and supporters reported in recent days that they had been suddenly moved out of the facilities where they were serving their sentences.

The missing inmates include human right activist and Memorial co-founder Oleg Orlov, former Navalny associates Lilia Chanysheva and Ksenia Fadeyeva, anti-war artist Sasha Skochilenko, opposition politicians Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, and 19-year-old dual German-Russian citizen Kevin Lik.

A lawyer for U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Russian court in 2020, said she sent a request to his prison to confirm his whereabouts but has not received a response.

Additionally, journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who was sentenced to six years in prison last year for spreading “disinformation” about the Russian army, failed to show up to her scheduled hearing on Wednesday, according to her employer, RusNews. The outlet said it was unable to contact Ponomarenko.

Journalist Pyotr Kozlov, citing a source familiar with the planning, reported late Wednesday evening Moscow time that Russia plans to release “between 20 and 30 political prisoners and journalists” in an imminent swap with the U.S. and Germany.

“I know of more people than those who have already been mentioned publicly,” he quoted the source as saying. The source also reportedly confirmed that Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin would be included in the swap, as well as former Navalny associates and U.S. citizens.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to confirm or deny rumors of a possible prisoner swap on Tuesday. When asked directly if a potential swap with the West might include American journalist Evan Gershkovich, Peskov said, “We don’t comment on this topic.” Similarly, White House national security spokesman John Kirby declined to comment about a possible prisoner swap when asked by Puck News journalist Julia Ioffe, saying, “I think you can understand we wouldn’t want to mess anything up to prevent there from being a positive result.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s decision on Tuesday to pardon German citizen Rico Krieger, who received the death sentence last month, also added to speculation that a major exchange may be underway.

On Wednesday, lawyer Igor Slabykh reported that information about five high-profile Russian prisoners in the U.S. had disappeared from the Federal Bureau of Prisons database: Vladislav Klyushin, Alexander Vinnik, Maxim Marchenko, Vadim Konoshchenok, and Roman Seleznyov.

Journalist Matthew Kupfer reported, citing a knowledgeable source, that Vadim Konoshchenok is no longer in the custody of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons. Konoshchenok was extradited to the U.S. from Estonia in 2022 after he was arrested for smuggling U.S. military hardware into Russia. Kupfer also said Roman Seleznev, who was convicted in 2016 of running a major hacking scheme, could be part of the swap.

At least eight aircraft from the Kremlin’s Rossiya special flight squadron, part of Russia’s presidential fleet, have departed from regions where the missing political prisoners were being held in the last week, according to the investigative outlet Agentstvo.

On Wednesday evening, the Slovenian TV channel N1 reported that a prisoner swap between Russia, the U.S., Germany, and Belarus would take place in the coming hours. The outlet said the exchange would see Slovenia release Russian citizens Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, who were convicted of espionage earlier on Wednesday. The couple first moved to Slovenia in 2017 using fake Argentine passports. According to Slovenian investigators, they paid Russian intelligence sources and communicated orders to other Russian agents all over Europe.

N1 also reported that the exchange would likely involve Rico Krieger, the German national pardoned by Lukashenko on Tuesday; and Russian citizen Vadim Krasikov, an ex-FSB officer serving prison time in Germany for the assassination of the former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in 2019.

On Thursday, Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Russia will free Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich as well as Paul Whelan and Vladimir Kara-Murza and as part of the exchange.

Citing a senior Biden administration official, CBS reported on Thursday that the swap would include Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was arrested in Russia in October.

The outlet iStories noted that Vladimir Putin issued seven classified decrees on Tuesday that could be pardons for prisoners to be traded in a possible swap. The existence of the documents was reflected on Russia’s legal information portal but their contents were not published.

Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer from the human rights project Department One, told Meduza that the last time multiple political prisoners disappeared simultaneously as they have in recent days was in 2019, in the lead to a 35-for-35 prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. “I very much hope that we’ll see the release of political prisoners this time as well,” Smirnov said.

Lawyer Mikhail Biryukov, who represents Ilya Yashin, told Meduza that he considers a prisoner exchange “very likely.”

This is a developing story.

The missing prisoners

Lilia Chanysheva

Lilia Chanysheva, a former regional coordinator for opposition politician Alexey Navalny who was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison earlier this year, was transferred from her prison in the Perm region to an unknown location, according to her husband, Almaz Gatin. He said that when he went to the prison to bring Chanysheva a package on July 28, he was told that she had “left the institution.”

Chanysheva, who used to head Navalny’s headquarters in Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan, was arrested in 2021 for protesting Navalny’s arrest. In 2023, she was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on a range of charges including “calling for extremism” and “creating an extremist organization.” The Bashkortostan Supreme Court later increased her sentence to 9.5 years. In May, Chanysheva reportedly requested a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sasha Skochilenko

Artist Sasha Skochilenko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for replacing price tags at a grocery store with anti-war stickers, was reportedly transferred from her prison in St. Petersburg to an unknown location. Prison employees reportedly told her supporters that she was sent to Moscow.

Ksenia Fadeyeva

Ksenia Fadeyeva, another former Navalny coordinator jailed on “extremism” charges, has also been transferred from her prison in Novosibirsk to an unknown location, her supporters announced on Telegram. They said prison officials refused to answer questions about her whereabouts or the reason for her transfer.

Oleg Orlov

Human rights activist and Memorial co-founder Oleg Orlov, who is serving a 2.5-year prison sentence on charges of “discrediting” the Russian army for his criticism of the Putin regime, has been moved from his prison in the Samara region to an unknown location, according to Memorial. His lawyer said that prison authorities refused to provide any explanation for the transfer.

The organization said that as of July 25, the trial court had yet to receive the case materials from Orlov’s appeals hearing at the Moscow City Court, and that under normal circumstances, this would mean that Orlov wouldn’t be transferred anytime soon.

Ilya Yashin

Opposition politician Ilya Yashin was also transferred from his prison in Russia’s Smolensk region to an unknown location, his lawyer reported on Tuesday. Yashin is serving an 8.5-year prison sentence for speaking out against Russian atrocities in Bucha.

The anonymous Russian Telegram channel VChK OGPU reported that Yashin’s transfer was being “personally” overseen by Russian Federal Penitentiary Service Director Arkady Gostev and initiated by the Federal Security Service (FSB). This has not been corroborated by other sources.

In June 2024, Yashin said in an interview with TV Rain that he would decline to take part in a prison exchange if such an opportunity arose. “I remained in Russia to be a Russian voice against war and dictatorship And of course, it’s important to me that I share the fate of my country and my people,” he said.

Kevin Lik

Kevin Lik, a 19-year-old dual German-Russian citizen who was sentenced to four years in prison on treason charges last year, has been transferred from his prison in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region to an unknown location, his supporters reported on Tuesday.

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Russian opposition politician and dual U.K.-Russian citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is serving 25 years in prison on charges including treason and “discrediting” the military, has been moved from his prisoner in the Omsk region to a new location, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service.

Kara-Murza’s lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, noted on Facebook that the flight tracking service FlightRadar shows that a plane from the Rossiya special flight squadron flew from Omsk to Moscow on Wednesday. Prison authorities have refused to allow Prokhorov to see his client for two days, claiming Kara-Murza is in the hospital for examination.

“I’m laying out the facts,” the lawyer wrote. “Despite the fact that the prison is telling us that Kara-Murza is in the Omsk hospital, we can’t get in touch with him. Our information shows that a special flight left Omsk at 10:00 a.m. and arrived in Moscow at 4:00 p.m. We have no other details.”

Paul Whelan

A lawyer for Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who has been imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges since 2018, said Wednesday that she had sent a request to her client’s prison to confirm his whereabouts but had not received a response.