US-NATO praises, Moscow thanks supporting countries

On August 1, Russia and Belarus exchanged a total of 24 prisoners with the United States and four other Western countries, through the intermediary country of Türkiye.

Russians detained in the West were welcomed home by Russian officials after a prisoner exchange on August 1. (Source: TASS)

Turkey's Anadolu news agency quoted a source from the Eurasian country's intelligence agency as saying that the exchanged prisoners from the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia and Belarus were transferred to Turkey on seven planes, including two from the US and one each from Germany, Poland, Norway, Slovenia and Russia.

After being gathered in Türkiye, eight of them (along with two accompanying minors) were taken to Russia, while 13 went to Germany and three to the United States.

Anadolu said this was the most comprehensive prisoner exchange between the US, Russia and Germany in recent years and that the establishment of dialogue channels for this operation was ensured by Turkish intelligence.

According to Russia's TASS news agency, after the event, the Kremlin issued a statement expressing gratitude to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko "for the gesture of goodwill and pardon of the German citizen sentenced to death," as well as thanking the leaders of all countries for their support.

Earlier the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially pardoned two American citizens: reporter Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan and nearly 10 other prisoners who were political and social activists.

On the US side, the White House stated that the country and four allies have reached an agreement with Russia on the largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War.

According to Reuters news agency, US President Joe Biden praised the deal as "a feat of diplomacy and friendship", and praised Washington's allies for their "bold and courageous decisions".

"This wouldn't be possible without our allies. Today is a powerful example of why it's so important to have friends around the world ," the US leader said.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan affirmed that this agreement does not include the exchange of money and does not ease any sanctions to facilitate the above agreement.

Meanwhile, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) praised Russia's release of prisoners in an exchange with the West as a result of close cooperation and negotiations between the alliance's members and Moscow.

NATO spokesman Farah Dakhlallah said: "We welcome Russia's release of a number of political prisoners today."

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