Former spies speak on Russian TV following massive prisoner exchange

euronews (in English)

Prisoners freed in the US-Russia prisoner swap have spoken since their release, but one expert warns "this doesn't mean that Russia has turned a corner".

Transcript

00:00It is a rare public display of Russian secret agents. The Russian state television interviewed

00:07two former spies who have returned to Moscow as part of the biggest prisoner exchange since

00:12the Cold War.

00:13Prior to their arrest in Slovenia in 2022, the couple were posing as Argentine citizens

00:19and allegedly had been using Slovenia as their base since 2017.

00:24We were threatened that the Argentine side allegedly wanted to take our children, that

00:29the children could be given to another family. But we felt that the Slovenian security service

00:40did everything possible to save the children in Slovenia, so that we could be together.

00:49The West released Russian spies as well as a convicted Russian assassin, while Russia

00:54released journalists, a former US Marine and political activists. One of the political

01:00activists released by Russia is Ilya Yashin, who was serving time in jail for criticizing

01:05Russia's war in Ukraine. Upon his release to Germany, the Russian opposition politician

01:11thanked his supporters on a live stream.

01:14It is very important for me to convey my point of view and to conduct anti-military

01:19education among the citizens of Russia who remain in Russia.

01:22The chief of the Committee to Protect Journalists says that the release of journalists from Russian

01:27captivity does not mean that press freedom in Russia is improving.

01:31Our concern is that this doesn't set a precedent for future governments to feel that they can

01:39simply take innocent journalists, for example, imprison them and use them as bargaining chips

01:46for the release of prisoners abroad.

01:50She adds that Russia was the fourth largest jailer of journalists worldwide in 2023, making

01:56it one of the most restrictive environments for journalists globally.

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