7-nation prisoner swap shows how diplomacy, not law, governs exchanges

President Joe Biden, joined by relatives of prisoners freed by Russia, delivers remarks about the prisoner swap on Aug. 1, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images by William E. Butler, Penn State Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other Americans were freed from Russia in a prisoner exchange on Aug. 1, 2024. In total, 24 prisoners, including 12 German nationals and eight Russians, as well as two children – who were not prisoners – were exchanged in Ankara, Turkey. Described by The New York Times as “the most far-reaching exchange between Russia and the West in decades,” the deal was a complex agreement involving seven countries, including the United States, Slovenia, Turkey, Norway and Germany. Some experts have called this kind of agreement “hostage diplomacy,” reflecting a growing trend of countries imprisoning foreigners on questionable grounds and using their potential release as political bargaining chips to achieve other goals. What rules – informal or otherwise – help guide these sorts of delicate negotiations and eventual agreements? Amy Lieberman, a politics editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with William Butler, a specialist in Russian and international law, to better understand this surprise prisoner release deal. Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, Paul Whelan....