Month: August 2024

…

your ad here

Americans Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and others are freed from Russian prisons in a deal involving 16 political prisoners exchanged for eight individuals requested by the Kremlin. With Liam Scott and Cristina Caicedo Smit, Jessica Jerreat reports. Patsy Widakuswara contributed. Cameras: Martin Bubenik, Krystof Maixner, Hoshang Fahim.
…

your ad here

…

your ad here

moscow — President Vladimir Putin gave Russian nationals freed in a historic prisoner exchange with the West a hero’s welcome on Thursday as they stepped off a plane in Moscow, promising them state awards and a conversation about their futures. 

Eight people were returned to Russia as part of the biggest East-West prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War, including Vadim Krasikov, a hitman convicted by a German court of killing a former Chechen militant in a Berlin park, and two men convicted of cybercrimes in the United States, Vladislav Klyushin and Roman Seleznyov. 

Among those Moscow also got back: a Russian family, the Dultsevs, including their two children, whom a court in Slovenia convicted of pretending to be Argentinians in order to spy on the EU and NATO member state. The couple are thought to be “illegals” — deep-cover agents trained to impersonate foreigners, who spend years living abroad in their cover identities. 

In return, U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were among those released by Moscow in a complex deal negotiated in secrecy for more than a year. 

Putin, a former KGB officer and ex-head of Russia’s FSB security service, met the eight returnees at a Moscow airport and hugged them or shook their hands, giving some of them bouquets of flowers as they came off the plane onto a red carpet flanked by a Kremlin honor guard. 

The first to disembark, wearing a baseball cap and a track suit top, was Krasikov, the hitman, whom Putin hugged. 

Inside the airport building, Putin, who looked visibly pleased, told the returnees: 

“First of all, I would like to congratulate you all on your return to the Motherland. Now I would like to address those of you who have a direct connection to military service. I want to thank you for your loyalty to your oath and your duty to your Motherland, which has never forgotten you for a moment. 

“All of you will be presented with state awards. I will see you again – we will talk about your future.”  

Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the domestic FSB intelligence service; Sergei Naryshkin, the head of the SVR foreign intelligence service; and Defense Minister Andrei Belousov were also at the airport to welcome the group. 

Earlier on Thursday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, commenting on the prisoner exchange, said that traitors to his country should rot and die in prison, but that it was more useful for Moscow to get its own people home. 

“And let the traitors now feverishly adopt new names and actively disguise themselves under witness protection programs,” Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel.
…

your ad here

…

your ad here

London — A British organization that focuses on bringing more transparency to ties between China and the United Kingdom says one of the country’s biggest China institutes at a top university, King’s College London, received almost all of its funds from one single donor — a wealthy Hong Kong businessman who has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

In a report released Sunday, UK-China Transparency said 99.9% of funding for the Lau China Institute, or LCI, came from Lau Ming-wai, who has served as an adviser to the Hong Kong government working on Hong Kong “integration” with China. He was also given a formal role at a body overseen by the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, the report said.

The United Front Work Department coordinates domestic and foreign influence campaigns for the Chinese Communist Party and is part of a broader effort known as “United Front” work that aims to co-opt individuals and silence opposition to the party.

Lau received his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from King’s College London and donated at least $14.1 million to support the institute, according to the report.

UK-China Transparency said it has sought information from King’s College under the Freedom of Information Act about the details of Lau’s collaboration with the Institute and any terms or restrictions on Lau’s donation. It also asked whether Lau has any requirements for the appointment of the institute’s director.

The university confirmed Lau’s donations but declined to provide the other information.

UK-China Transparency then complained to the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office, which supported King’s College’s position. The organization has since appealed to a body known as the First-tier Tribunal to try to force the college to disclose more information.

A British government spokesperson told VOA that it is the responsibility of higher education providers to ensure “they have adequate governance and risk management procedures in place, including on the acceptance of donations.”

“We expect the sector to be alert to security risks when collaborating with international partners, conducting appropriate due diligence to comply with legislation and consider risks, including potential threats to freedom of speech and academic freedom,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement Thursday.

The LCI was established in 2011 as part of the School of Global Affairs at King’s College London. The institute has 76 members, including 30 doctoral students and 11 core members. Its projects include several topics that are considered sensitive by the Chinese Communist Party.

Kerry Brown, director of the LCI, received an award from a Chinese government-owned think tank in 2020 for “telling Chinese stories and spreading Chinese voices.”

Brown is a former British diplomat who previously worked for the China Section of his country’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as first secretary of the U.K. Embassy in Beijing. He is a frequent contributor to Chinese state media.

VOA contacted Brown for comment but did not receive a response at time of publication.

However, Brown said in an interview with VOA last year that while there were legitimate security reasons that made the U.K. have reservations about Chinese investment, the U.K.’s options would be greatly reduced if China was rejected altogether.

“You either accept that China poses problems and you try and deal with them, or you accept that you can’t deal with China and you don’t take any of the economic benefits that come from that,” he said. “It’s about the conversation. It’s about embracing how complex this could be.”

In a summary report released in 2020, the LCI thanked Lau for his continued support, noting that the institute works with several institutions around the world, including Transparency International, the World Bank, BHP Billiton and the G20. The LCI has become an important source of information for policymakers and the public to discuss China, the report said.

A spokesperson for King’s College London told VOA that as a matter of policy, all of its institutes operate independently from donors, who have no influence over the focus of any research undertaken by the institutes.

“We are proud of the work of our global institutes in bringing together leading academics to critically examine and deliver country-focused research and expertise that helps shape and inform global understanding,” the spokesperson said.

The close ties between U.K. universities and China have been under the spotlight in recent years, particularly in the economic and educational sectors.

A report by the U.K. Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee last year warned that “China has taken advantage of the policy of successive British governments to boost economic ties between the U.K. and China, which has enabled it to advance its commercial, science and technology, and industrial goals in order to gain a strategic advantage.”

In February, a British government spokesperson told VOA, “We continue to talk to the sector to ensure advice, and measures on tackling security risks in international collaboration remains relevant and proportionate.”

The spokesperson said China was added in May 2023 to a list of countries subject to export controls on certain items with potential military uses.

In April, Oliver Dowden, the U.K. deputy prime minister at the time, said the government would impose stricter oversight of higher education institutions, thereby strengthening protection for sensitive technology and reducing reliance on foreign funding. The move aims to prevent foreign interference in national security, especially from countries that “ignore the rules-based international order.”

Observers said the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act is an important tool for that purpose. However, the Labour Party’s education secretary announced this week that the bill’s implementation would be halted to ensure the “financial stability” of the higher education sector.

Brown said last year that his colleagues at King’s College London were well aware of the problems that arose in their interactions with Chinese students and were not naive. He believes it is important to understand and listen to the voices of Chinese students in the U.K., as they are an important part of the academic community.

At the same time, he stressed that cooperation with China is still necessary, especially in areas such as life sciences and medical research, as these are common global issues.

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang, Yu-wen Cheng and Daniel Schearf contributed to this report.
…

your ad here

…

your ad here

Washington — The U.S. on Thursday confirmed a historic prisoner swap with Russia that included the release of American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza.

In total, the U.S. secured the release of 16 individuals, including five wrongfully detained Germans and seven Russian citizens, in return for eight held in America, Germany, Poland, Norway and Slovenia.

It marked the largest prisoner swap between the United States and Russia since the Cold War.

“Today’s exchange will be historic. Not since the Cold War has there been a similar number of individuals exchanged in this way,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a briefing. “It’s the culmination of many rounds of complex, painstaking negotiations over many, many months.”

Sullivan said the deal also marks the first time so many countries and allies worked together to secure the release of wrongfully detained individuals.

Alongside the Americans, the deal secures the release of German nationals and Russian political prisoners, including Dieter Voronin, Kevin Lick, Rico Krieger, Patrick Schoebel, Herman Moyzhes, Ilya Yashin, Liliya Chanysheva, Kseniya Fadeyeva, Vadim Ostanin, Andrey Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov, and Sasha Skochilenko.

Of the Americans, the longest held was Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who was arrested in Moscow in 2018. In 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony on spying charges that he and the U.S. government den

Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Kurmasheva were both detained in 2023 and were convicted in separate closed trials on July 19, which were widely decried as shams.

And Kara-Murza, an activist and columnist for The Washington Post detained since April 2022, was also freed. The politician and historian won a Pulitzer for his letters written from prison.

On the Russian side, the Kremlin negotiated for the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving life in prison in Germany.

Sullivan told reporters: “It became clear that the Russians would not agree to the release of these individuals without an exchange that included Vadim Krasikov.”

Krasikov was convicted in the 2019 murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin. He had previously been in the running to be exchanged for opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in February 2024.

Other individuals returning to Russia include Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultseva from Slovenia; Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin from Norway; Pavel Alekseyevich Rubtsov from Poland; and Roman Seleznev, Vladislav Klyushin and Vadim Konoshchenock from the United States.

Paul Beckett, an assistant editor at the Journal, who led the newspaper’s campaign to secure Gershkovich’s release, told VOA earlier this year that his colleague’s jailing highlights the dangers facing journalists around the world.

“It’s certainly a reminder for all of our reporters who are in dangerous places that journalism is a risky business,” Beckett said. “It is a noble and valued endeavor that some governments in the world really don’t like.”

Kurmasheva is a Prague-based editor on the Tatar-Bashkir Service of VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The dual U.S.-Russian national traveled to Russia in May of 2023 to care for her ailing mother.

When Kurmasheva tried to leave the country in June 2023, authorities confiscated her passports, and she was waiting for them to be returned when she was detained in October 2023.

Kurmasheva had not been designated by the U.S. State Department as wrongfully detained. A senior administration official told VOA, however, that Kurmasheva became part of the negotiations shortly after she was detained, and the U.S. is glad to bring her home.

A similar deal in 2022 led to American basketball player Brittney Griner being freed in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.

Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, said that since her arrest, his primary concern has been the couple’s daughters.

“They’re old enough to understand the brutality of the regime that captured their mother,” he told VOA in early July at their Prague home. “We dream of our family being reunited after this ordeal.”

The couple’s eldest daughter, Bibi, said she missed the little moments with her mother, like when they blasted music together on the car ride to school in the morning.

“And on the way back home from school, she would always bring snacks, and we would always talk about our day. I really miss that,” the 16-year-old said.

Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
…

your ad here