WASHINGTON (August 1, 2024) – The Biden Administration has secured the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan from Russia in a sweeping multicountry prisoner exchange deal. According to the New York Times, the multicountry exchange happened at an airport in Turkey, which included 24 adults who had been imprisoned in seven different countries. Reports indicate this is the largest prisoner exchange since the height of the Cold War.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight and analysis on the prisoner exchange and U.S.-Russia relations. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations at [email protected].
Thom Shanker is the director of the Project for Media & National Security at the GW School of Media and Public Affairs. He was named director after a nearly quarter-century career with The New York Times, including 13 years as Pentagon correspondent covering the Department of Defense, overseas combat operations and national security policy. Before joining The Times, he was foreign editor of The Chicago Tribune. He spent five years as The Tribune's Moscow correspondent, covering the start of the Gorbachev era to the death of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the communist empire in Eastern Europe. Shanker led a discussion on Gershkovich’s case, wrongful detention and prisoner exchanges with the Defense Writers Group this spring.
Frank Sesno serves as the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Professor at the GW School of Media and Public Affairs as well as as the Executive Director of the George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future. An Emmy-award winning journalist, Sesno’s diverse journalism career spanning four decades includes more than two decades at CNN as a White House correspondent, anchor, Sunday talk show host, Washington Bureau Chief, and Special Correspondent. While serving in those roles, he covered presidential campaigns and political conventions, superpower summits, arms negotiations, conflicts in the Middle East and Latin America, and major historical events such as the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the 9/11 terror attacks and Barack Obama’s historic inauguration as America’s first Black president in 2009.
Sean Murphy is the Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law at the George Washington University Law School. Murphy is an expert on public international law and U.S. foreign relations law. He has served as a member of U.N. International Law Commission (2012-2022), legal counselor for the U.S. Embassy in Hague, ten years on the AJIL Board of Editors and was the President of the American Society of International Law 2018-202. He currently is a member of L’Institut de Droit International.
Robert Orttung, research professor of international affairs, is an expert on comparative politics, Russia, Ukraine, energy security, federalism, and democracy. He can discuss Russian politics, Russian-Ukrainian relations and all issues related to urban politics in Eurasia. Orttung can also discuss Russian President Vladimir Putin’s legacy and governance as well as the future of Russia.
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