Fox News chief international correspondent Steve Harrigan said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be ecstatic about a prisoner swap with President Joe Biden's administration and America's allies.
Russia released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in exchange for a Russian assassin, a deal that also includes 24 other people. according to Speaking to CBS News on “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Harrigan said this was a “successful hostage operation” for Russia and that the Kremlin may be happy with the deal they've made. (Related article: American journalist Evan Gershkovich to stand trial on trumped-up espionage charges brought by Russian regime)
clock:
Fox News correspondent says Putin 'may be celebrating' after prisoner swap with Biden administration pic.twitter.com/0QduyThjIM
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 1, 2024
“There's celebration in the US, maybe even in the Kremlin. This was essentially a successful hostage operation run by Vladimir Putin,” Harrigan said. “He captured a Wall Street Journal journalist, put him in solitary confinement for 16 months, and bailed out a would-be killer from prison. It makes me a little sad when I think back to the '90s under Boris Yeltsin in Russia. Things were tough then, but we never really felt like a state was coming after us then.”
“You can report critically, but right now we're hearing the term 'kidnapper state' a lot. You know, if you're a journalist in a war zone in Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever, it's worse. You might have militant groups trying to kidnap you,” he added. “But when it's a state, a president or his security forces going after journalists, it's a whole other level, and I really don't see how you can protect yourself against a kidnapper state.”
Gershkovich was arrested in Russia in 2023 on espionage charges and was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison. He is the first American journalist to stand trial on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.
In June, Whelan criticized the Biden administration for failing to rescue him and Gershkovich and called for the U.S. to pressure Russia to release them.
The Biden administration said in late 2022 that the U.S. sent an arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death” to Russia to orchestrate a prisoner swap in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, but not Whelan.
“The U.S. needs to do something, stuff Guantanamo Bay with Russian officials, arrest Russian spies, do something that will make the Kremlin take notice and say, 'Okay, well, now let's get Evan and Paul back, and then we'll get what we have back, and be done with that,'” he said. Before He told CNN.
As an independent, nonpartisan news service, all content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation is available free of charge to any legitimate news publisher with a large readership. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and affiliation with the DCNF. If you have any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
