Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russian state media group Rossiya Segodnya, offered to exchange opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza and American citizens Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich arrested in Russia for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
“Change Whelan, Kara-Murza* and Gershkovich for Assange. They won’t give him up for less than three. Save one useful life at the cost of three harmful ones,” a Russian propagandist wrote on the Telegram social network.
On April 17, a Moscow city court found Vladimir Kara-Murza guilty of high treason, spreading “fakes” about the Russian army, and participating in the activities of an undesirable organization, and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
Whelan, a former US Marine, was arrested in Moscow in 2018 on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020. Wall Street Jordan correspondent Evan Gershkovich was arrested on suspicion of espionage in March 2023.
