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On July 19, WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted unusually swiftly on espionage charges that he denies. He was handed 16 years in jail. read more
 "Russia frees US journalist, ex-marine in multi-country prisoner swap")
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, right, was convicted of espionage on July 19 and handed 16 years in jail. File Photo-Reuters
Russia has agreed to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
The two men, who were imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges are currently traveling to locations outside of Russia. As part of the agreement, the US and its allies will release prisoners they hold back to Russia, Bloomberg sources who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the information.
West views detainees as political prisoners
In the West, dissidents are seen by governments and activists as wrongfully detained political prisoners. All have, for different reasons, been designated by Moscow as dangerous extremists.
On July 19, Gershkovich was convicted unusually swiftly on espionage charges that he denies. He was handed 16 years in jail.
Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was also convicted in a secret trial the same day and sentenced to 6-1/2 years, accused of spreading false information about the Russian army. She denies wrongdoing.
Other U.S. nationals behind bars in Russia include former schoolteacher Marc Fogel, convicted for possessing marijuana, which he said he used for medical reasons.
In Belarus, meanwhile, President Alexander Lukashenko, a close Putin ally, on Tuesday pardoned Rico Krieger, a German sentenced to death on terrorism charges, again with unusual haste and state media coverage.
Among those Moscow has signalled it wants is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving life in Germany for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.
A Slovenian court on Wednesday sentenced two Russians to time served for espionage and using fake identities, and said they would be deported, the state news agency STA reported, a move a Slovenian TV channel said was part of the wider exchange.
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