An-148 Lands in Russia: Country Uses Such Aircraft for Prisoner Exchanges

An-148-100E aircraft with registration RA-61727 landed in Kaliningrad at 8:35 AM local time (9:35 AM Yerevan time), which was previously used in December 2022 to exchange Russian Viktor Bout for American basketball player Brittney Griner, according to data from the Flightradar24 service.

Earlier today, Fox News reported that Russia and the U.S. could exchange prisoners within a day. According to the channel, Moscow will hand over Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was convicted of espionage in Russia. Fox News did not specify who Washington would hand over in return.

Slovenian N1 television reported yesterday that a large-scale prisoner exchange between Russia, Belarus, Germany, and the U.S. is expected to take place in the coming hours. According to N1, Slovenia will extradite two individuals, Ludvig Gishin and Maria Rosa Mayer Munoz, sentenced for espionage on behalf of Russia (Artyom Dulceva and Anna Dulceva). Moscow may return former FSB employee Vadim Krasikov, convicted in Germany for the murder of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili of Chechen descent. The channel also reports that Belarus will participate in the exchange and will transfer German Rico Krieger, who was accused of terrorism and sentenced to be shot (on July 30, Alexander Lukashenko granted him clemency).