Cryptocurrency money launderer Alexander Vinnik has returned to Russia, completing an exchange that freed schoolteacher and former U.S. Embassy employee Mark Fogel earlier in the week. Vinnik flew to Moscow after a brief layover in Turkey, his lawyer told reporters on Thursday. Vinnik’s first visit back home was to his mother, Izvestia reported. In an interview with the newspaper, he said his release was unexpected: “I still didn’t know that I was going to be exchanged. I just arrived. No one told me. It was a surprise.”
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in July 2017 at the request of the U.S. government on charges of laundering $4–9 billion through the now-defunct BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange. He was finally extradited to America in August 2022. Roughly two years later, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Vinnik was still awaiting sentence when the U.S. sent him back to Russia.
Also this week, the Belarusian authorities freed three political prisoners: Belarusian nationals Andrei Kuznechyk and Yelena Movshuk, as well as an unnamed U.S. citizen. The released individuals were transported to Lithuania.
