(NewsNation) — A large prisoner swap involving two Americans imprisoned on espionage convictions in Russia is underway, according to the White House.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan are expected to soon be in U.S. custody after spending 16 months and more than 5 1/2 years, respectively, behind bars in Russia.
Former FBI agent Robin Dreeke told “NewsNation Live” on Thursday that there are only really three “winners” in this situation.
“Make no mistake about this, there’s only really three winners: The two families that get their loved ones back and Putin,” he said. “Putin’s modus operandi for as long as he’s been in power … is really simple: Fear is cheaper than diplomacy.”
Meanwhile, there is some concern regarding risk-reward in a swap such as this. However, John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said he doesn’t think it’s a risk-reward trade-off.
“I think it’s illegitimate to swap innocent Americans for Russians who may include a KGB agent in Germany convicted of murder, among other things,” he said. “The price for America is high; every time you make a deal like this, the price gets higher.”
He added the U.S. shouldn’t want to engage in conduct that may “spring some Americans now but put more Americans in danger in the future.”
“I think when the Russians or the Chinese or the North Koreans or the Iranians or any terrorist group take Americans, they ought to feel terrible pain for it, and we should inflict that pain. But you incentive them to kidnap more Americans when you make hostage swaps like this,” Bolton said.
Speculation about the swap began Tuesday when many of the prisoners were being moved from their holding cells and transferred.
Details of who the U.S. may be sending back to Russia, or who else may have been freed, are not yet known. A Turkish intelligence agency said it was coordinating the extensive prisoner swap Thursday at Ankara Esenboga Airport, Reuters reported.
The largest prisoner swap since the Cold War took place in 2010, involving 14 people in total.
NewsNation’s Devan Markham, Damita Menezes and Kellie Meyer contributed to this report.