MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2020) Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova welcomed on Wednesday the possible exchange of Russian citizens Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, who are serving prison sentences in the United States, for former US marine Paul Whelan, who is currently jailed in Russia.
On Monday, a court in Moscow sentenced Whelan, who has US, UK, Canadian and Irish citizenship, to 16 years in prison for espionage. Soon after, Russian media reported, citing informed sources, that the Russian-US exchange scheme was currently being discussed by Moscow and Washington. If an exchange occurs, all prisoners would reportedly serve the remainder of their sentences in their native countries.
"I will be happy if such an exchange takes place. Not all information can be made public since all these negotiations have a lot of nuances ... If this exchange takes place, I will be happy that our work has contributed a little to the resolution of this issue. The main thing is that it happens without any setbacks," Moskalkova said.
Whelan was detained in Russia in late 2018. He has denied the accusations of espionage, stressing that he came to Russia to attend a friend's wedding.
Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in May 2010 on suspicion of drug trafficking. A year later, he was extradited to the United States and sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle a large amount of drugs to the country. He has denied all charges.
Bout was detained in Thailand on a US government request in 2008 as a result of a sting operation by the US special services. Bout was then transferred to the United States, where a court found him guilty of conspiring to kill US citizens and supporting terrorism.
