Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich's release won't mean much for Russia, US relations

The United States and Russia exchanged 24 prisoners Thursday at a moment of terrible tension between the two rivals. After months of ongoing talks, with more than six countries involved in the negotiations, three American citizens and one American green-card holder have been freed in Turkey in the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War.

Freeing the four residents, including cause célèbres such as Pulitzer Prize winner Vladimir Kara-Murza, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan will add heft to Joe Biden’s record of foreign policy accomplishments as president.

But why now?

Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian assassin who had been held in a German prison, freed. Krasikov shot a Chechen dissident in a park in 2019, at the behest of Russia’s intelligence agency. For months, Putin has expressed his willingness to cut a deal.

A previous deal this year was in the works to free Alexei Navalny, the now-deceased leader of the Russian opposition, but it failed before Navalny was killed in a Russian prison.

Timing is everything, and now that President Biden is no longer seeking reelection, he’s willing to take more risks and intent on shoring up his legacy. One hour before he announced on July 21 that he's dropping his campaign and backed Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden greenlighted the complex deal, The Wall Street Journal revealed.

What makes a martyr? Alexei Navalny shines a light on Vladimir Putin's evil tyranny.

Who are Gershkovich, Whelan and other prisoners freed in the swap with Russia?

Alsu Kurmasheva, not a household name, was the last innocent to be captured and released by Moscow on Thursday. After a secret trial, the 47-year-old Russian American journalist at the Washington-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army.

Before her arrest last October, Kurmasheva lived in Prague with with her husband and two daughters. She traveled from the Czech Republic to Russia to care for her elderly mother.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

In February, Russia named RFE/RL as an undesirable organization. Kurmasheva’s crime? She failed to register her U.S. passport with the Russian authorities. In reality, Kurmasheva helped edit a book about the war in Ukraine that likely triggered the Kremlin.

US-Russia prisoner swap: Russia prisoner swap brings Whelan, Gershkovich home. US should have done more, sooner.

In a written statement, Biden called the deal a “feat of diplomacy” and pledged to free every unlawfully detained American abroad.

“Today we celebrate the return of Paul, Evan, Alsu, and Vladimir and rejoice with their families,” it said.

But does the swap signal a potential thaw in relations between Moscow and Washington? Absolutely not.

The swap was nothing more than a temporary moment of convenience when Putin and Biden’s narrow political interests overlapped. There will be no thaw or reset in the final days of Biden’s term. Until Moscow removes its troops from Ukraine, Washington will not relent. Nor should it.

And rejoice we should.

Melinda Haring is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russia prisoner swap won't change much for US. Celebrate it anyway