The Observer view on the US-Russia prisoner swap: release brought joy but there is a downside too

You have to hand it to Joe. Two weeks ago, isolating at his home in Delaware, sick with Covid and sick at heart over his imminent decision to abandon his re-election bid, Biden nevertheless dutifully picked up the phone and called the prime minister of Slovenia. The US was trying to finalise an extraordinary, large-scale prisoner swap with Russia. Slovenia’s agreement to release two Russian spies was a key element in a complex, fragile negotiation. As the world now knows, ailing Biden pulled it off.
Many critical things have been said about the US president of late, some in this space. But credit where credit is due. Last week’s freeing of 16 prisoners held on trumped-up charges by Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship – three Americans, six people from other western countries and seven Russian nationals – was a personal triumph for Biden. He quietly pushed for a breakthrough for more than a year. He took chances, twisted arms, spent political capital – and ultimately succeeded.
The prisoner swap – some, understandably, prefer to call it a hostage deal – was also a triumph for diplomacy, as Biden was quick to point out. American allies, including Germany, Norway, Poland and Turkey, which hosted the handover at Ankara airport, “stood with us and made bold and brave decisions”, he said. This kind of multilateral diplomatic cooperation and mutual support demonstrated the value of international alliances, he added.
This is undoubtedly true. Yet Biden’s remark was also a much-deserved swipe at Donald Trump, who is to diplomacy what Benny Hill is to political correctness. The happy homecoming scenes at Andrews air force base in Maryland, where Biden and numerous relatives were united with the prisoners, will stick in the craw of the Republican presidential nominee who spent last week trying to disunite America with his racist and gender bigotry. This was a good news day, and Trump thrives on bad. And to cap it all, there on national TV, for all the voters to see, was vice-president Kamala Harris, Trump’s soaraway Democratic rival, joyfully embracing the moment like a normal human being.
Once the cheering fades, however, the potential downsides to all of this, and they are several and serious, will require careful thought. The case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is instructive. He was just doing his job when he was arrested and accused of spying. There was no evidence against him. Yet he was forced to endure agonising months in detention and a show trial. All along, it was blindingly obvious that Putin was holding him hostage, for use as a political bargaining chip.
US officials believe Putin’s primary aim was to free his personal friend and FSB secret agent, Vadim Krasikov, a convicted assassin held in Germany. Once his release was agreed – and Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, took a lot of persuading – all the pieces, including the freeing of seven other convicted Russians, fell into place. But make no mistake: this was America publicly bowing to blackmail. The example it sets, though hardly unprecedented elsewhere, is worrying and may encourage further hostage-taking. Worrying, too, is the fact the Russians targeted a journalist. Independent, unrestricted reporting around the world grows more hazardous each year. The Gershkovich case will have a chilling effect.
Spare a thought, meanwhile, for the many hundreds of political prisoners left behind in Russia, and for those who will never make it to freedom. The latter group includes Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader. His name was initially included in the list of prisoners to be exchanged. But on 16 February, he was murdered by Putin’s odious regime in an Arctic penal colony. Alexei Navalny is never coming home.