Killer released in prisoner swap was Russian spy
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2024
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Kremlin has admitted that Vadim Krasikov, a convicted killer released as part of the prisoner exchange with the US, was a Russian spy working for the FSB.
We'll hear from the investigator who first uncovered his identity and helped negotiate the deal: We will also get reaction from Washington and from a Russian politician loyal to Vladimir Putin.
Also in the programme: An exclusive interview with a high-ranking North Korean defector who tells us why Kim Jong-Un is hoping Donald Trump will be re-elected as president; and why there is controversy surrounding the women's boxing at the Olympics in Paris.
(Photo shows Russian citizens released after the Russian-US prisoner swap disembarking from a plane at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia on 1 August 2024. Credit: Sergei Ilyin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool via EPA)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service we're coming to you |
| 0:07.0 | live from London I'm James Menendez and our top story today is the news that |
| 0:11.4 | was just starting to break on the program yesterday, |
| 0:14.2 | the prisoner swap between Russia and the US, the largest since the end of the Cold War. |
| 0:19.8 | It was a logistically complex deal, 24 detainees in all converging on Ankara Airport in Turkey, |
| 0:27.0 | 16 prisoners from Russia and its ally Belarus, 8 from several different Western countries including the US and Germany. |
| 0:35.6 | And it was of course diplomaticly fraught too as we'll hear in a moment from someone on the |
| 0:40.4 | inside track of the negotiations. |
| 0:43.2 | But overnight, several of those released by Russia arrived back in the United States, including |
| 0:48.0 | the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershovic, the Russian-American journalist Alsu Korma Sheva and the former Marine Paul Wielen |
| 0:56.1 | all welcomed with clapping and cheers as their plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base |
| 1:00.8 | outside Washington. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were there on the tarmac. |
| 1:12.0 | Mr Biden hailed the exchange as historic. |
| 1:15.0 | The deal that made this possible was the feat of diplomacy and friendship. |
| 1:21.0 | Friendship. |
| 1:22.0 | Multiple countries helped get this done. |
| 1:24.0 | They joined a difficult complex negotiations at my request. |
| 1:28.0 | And I personally thank them all again. |
| 1:31.0 | And I thank them personally and I'll thank them again. |
| 1:34.0 | All told Russia has released 16 prisoners. |
| 1:38.0 | Eight Russians were being held in the West will be sent home as well. |
| 1:42.0 | Well, also released this part of the deal, the leading opposition figure Vladimir Karamursa, who has dual Russian and British |
... |
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