Dissidents freed in prisoner swap vow to keep up fight against Putin, recount details of release

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was suddenly moved to a detention center in Moscow from a Siberian prison, he thought he was being taken there to be shot. Opposition activist Ilya Yashin said he was warned by a security operative that he would die in prison if he returned to Russia.

Neither was told they were being freed in a massive prisoner exchange with the West — the largest since the Cold War — when they were put on a bus to the airport Thursday, some still in prison garb.

“It is very difficult to shake (the feeling) of absolute surrealism of what is happening,” Kara-Murza, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who had been serving 25 years in prison, told a news conference Friday in the German city of Bonn.

In their first public appearance since their release a day earlier, President Vladimir Putin's foes vowed to keep fighting for a free and democratic Russia they could one day return to.

They also talked about how their newly found freedom left a bittersweet aftertaste as they were effectively expelled from their own country, where hundreds of other political prisoners continued to languish behind bars.

“I’m not viewing what happened to me ... as an exchange. I’m viewing it as an expulsion from Russia, an illegal expulsion from Russia against my will. And I’ll say frankly, as it is: The thing I want the most right now is to go home,” said Yashin, who had been sentenced to 8 1/2 years for criticism of the Ukraine war.

He and Kara-Murza both told reporters no one asked them if they consented to the swap, and emphasized they refused to request a pardon from Putin — a formality they said prison officials had insisted upon.

Still, Kara-Murza stressed that such prisoner swaps are, in effect, “the saving of people's lives.” The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison on February underscores that “very terribly,” he said.

Kara-Murza, Yashin and opposition figure Andre Pivovarov were among 16 prisoners that Russia and its ally Belarus released on Thursday — Americans, Germans and Russian dissidents, most of whom were imprisoned on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

The historic trade was in the works for months and unfolded despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Those released included journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who were greeted by their families and President Joe Biden when they arrived in Maryland on Thursday night.

Moscow in return got eight Russians jailed in the West for spying, hacking computers and even a brazen daylight murder. The Kremlin confirmed on Friday that some of them were its security and intelligence officers.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a former Chechen fighter in a Berlin park, is an officer of the Federal Security Service, or FSB — a fact reported in the West even as Moscow denied state involvement.

He also said Krasikov once served in the FSB’s special forces Alpha unit, along with some of Putin’s bodyguards.

“Naturally, they also greeted each other yesterday when they saw each other,” Peskov said, underscoring Putin’s determination to include Krasikov in the swap. Earlier this year, Putin stopped short of identifying Krasikov, but referenced a “patriot” imprisoned in a “U.S.-allied country” for “liquidating a bandit” who had killed Russian soldiers during fighting in the Caucasus.

Peskov also confirmed that a couple released in Slovenia — Artem and Anna Dultsev — were undercover intelligence officers. Posing as Argentine expats, they used Ljubljana as their base since 2017 to relay Moscow's orders to other sleeper agents and were arrested on espionage charges in 2022.

Yashin said at the news conference in Bonn that “it is hard to realize that you have been released because a murderer has been released. It is difficult, it is very emotionally difficult."

It's also difficult, he said, because there are other Russians still behind bars.

Still, he vowed to continue the fight against Putin's rule — despite the risks.

“When we were flying with FSB officers to Ankara, one FSB officer turned to Vladimir and me and said: ‘Well, don’t get too carried away there, because Krasikov might come back for you,'" — a comment he said sent “chills” through his spine.

Kara-Murza and Pivovarov echoed Yashin's resolve.

“My friends and I will use all our strength so that our country could become free and democratic, and all those people who are behind bars are freed,“ said Pivovarov, who had been serving a four-year prison term.

Kara-Murza added that there are still “hundreds of people in prison solely for their political views, and more and more are on the lists of political prisoners.”

“These are our fellow citizens who, like all of us, oppose the cruel, criminal, aggressive war that the Putin regime unleashed against Ukraine,” he said.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial said Friday that 766 people it has designated as political prisoners remain behind bars in Russia.

To supporters and relatives of those released, the swap also came as a surprise.

Pivovarov's wife, Tatyana Usmanova, told The Associated Press on Friday that when she learned he had disappeared from his prison in northern Russia, she imagined both bad and good outcomes.

She started to suspect a possible swap when reports appeared about other prisoners missing from their facilities, she said, but only felt “good and clear” about an exchange when she heard his voice on the phone Thursday, telling her to fly to Germany.

Artist and musician Sasha Skochilenko, convicted last year of an anti-war protest, disappeared Monday night from a detention center in St. Petersburg, her partner Sophya Subbotina said on Telegram. Subbotina told AP on Tuesday that “Sasha simply disappeared and we don't know where she is.” Prison officials said she probably was in Moscow.

Subbotina rushed to Moscow to check detentions centers but couldn't find Skochilenko, who finally called her on Thursday from Ankara, Turkey, where the swap took place. She said she had not known she was part of the exchange until it was underway, Subbotina added in remarks to the Russian news outlet Bumaga.

Oleg Orlov, the 71-year-old co-chair of the human rights group Memorial who was also released in the swap, called his wife, Tatyana Kasatkina, from Germany on Friday, and she said he “still hasn't processed that he ended up being so far from Russia,” the group quoted her as saying.

Orlov recounted to her that no one asked for his consent or explained why he was being moved from a detention center, and he only realized he was part of a swap when he got on a bus to the airport. According to Memorial, Orlov also didn't sign a request for presidential pardon.

ADDS MORE INFORMATION ON RUSSIAN PRISONERS - Russian President Vladimir Putin, background second right, and Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin, background left, walk behind two convicted Russian sleeper agents with their teenage children who were deported to Russia from Slovenia as part of a landmark prisoner exchange between the US and Russia on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (Kirill Zykov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Freed Russian prisoner Andrei Pivovarov speaks during a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoner Ilya Yashin speaks during a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza, speaks during a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoners Ilya Yashin, from left, Andrei Pivovarov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, approach a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoners Ilya Yashin, from right, Andrei Pivovarov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, speak during a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoners Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, from left, enter a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoners Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, from left, enter a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoners Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, from left, enter a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoners Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, from left, enter a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Freed Russian prisoners Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, from left, enter a press conference in Bonn, Germany, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, a day after they were released as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to released Russian prisoners upon their arrival at the Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. The United States and Russia have made their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. (Kirill Zykov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, background second right, and Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin, background left, walk behind released Russian prisoners upon their arrival at the Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. The United States and Russia have made their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. (Kirill Zykov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, Federal Security Service (FSB) director Alexander Bortnikov, right, and Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin, third left, greet freed Russian prisoners upon their arrival at Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia, Aug. 1, 2024. The United States and Russia have made their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. (Mikhail Voskresensky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, greets Artyom Dultsev, left, upon arrival of freed Russian prisoners at Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia, Aug. 1, 2024. The United States and Russia have made their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. (Mikhail Voskresensky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Vadim Krasikov, center, and other released Russian prisoners, step down from the plane upon their arrival at the Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. The United States and Russia have made their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. (Sergei Ilyin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Vadim Krasikov upon arrival of freed Russian prisoners at Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia, Aug. 1, 2024. The United States and Russia have made their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. (Mikhail Voskresensky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

An Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more, Lebanese health officials said. It was the first such Israeli attack on Lebanon’s capital in months and came shortly after Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets.

The Israeli military said its airstrike killed Ibrahim Akil, a senior Hezbollah military official. There was no immediate confirmation of his death from Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said that its attacks had targeted several Israeli military sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including multiple air defense bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armored brigade they said they’d struck for the first time.

In Gaza, Palestinian authorities said 15 people were killed overnight in Israeli attacks.

Israel maintains it targets only militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military had no immediate comment.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.

Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Here's the latest:

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Ministry has raised the death toll from Friday's Israeli airstrike on Beirut to 14. Dozens more were wounded.

The Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital flattened two apartment buildings.

The Israeli military said the strike killed Ibrahim Akil, a senior Hezbollah military official. There was no immediate confirmation of his death from Hezbollah.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday said that his administration must keep working at trying to win a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas as tensions rise along the Israel-Lebanon border.

The president’s comments came hours after Israel carried out what it called targeted strikes near Beirut. The action is raising concerns that the nearly yearlong Gaza war could spread into a larger regional war.

“We are continuing to try to do what we tried in the beginning to make sure that both the people of northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to get back to their homes and go back safely,” Biden said in an exchange with reporters at the start of a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

Asked if getting an agreement may be slipping out of reach in the final months of his presidency, Biden said he still had hope and that his national security team continues to work.

“If I ever said it wasn’t realistic, we might as well leave,” Biden said. “A lot of things don’t look realistic until we get them done. We have to keep at it.”

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military announced that its airstrike Friday on a neighborhood of Beirut killed Ibrahim Akil, a senior Hezbollah military official. There was no immediate confirmation of his death from Hezbollah.

The Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital killed at least nine people and wounded nearly 60 others, according to Lebanese health officials, and flattened two apartment buildings. The Israeli military also claimed that its strike killed other “top operatives” of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, without elaborating.

A Hezbollah official has confirmed that Akil was supposed to be in the building in the Dahiya district that was hit.

Akil has served on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, and has been sanctioned by the United States for being involved in two terrorist attacks in 1983 that killed more than 300 people at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the U.S. Marine Corps barracks.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shortened a planned trip to the U.S. because of rising tensions with Hezbollah, according to an Israeli official.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media on the matter. Netanyahu is supposed to travel to the U.S. ahead of a planned speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.

The decision to shorten the trip comes as tensions with Hezbollah threaten to spiral into an all-out war, following an Israeli strike targeting a senior Hezbollah leader in a southern suburb of Beirut.

— By Julia Frankel

BERUIT — An Israeli airstrike hit Beirut on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding nearly 60 others in the first such Israeli attack on Lebanon’s capital in months.

The Israeli strike on Beirut’s crowded southern suburbs hit during rush hour, as people headed home from work and children left school. Local networks broadcast footage that showed at least two buildings completely flattened and the main street ravaged in Dahiyeh, just kilometers from downtown Beirut where Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group holds sway.

The strike came after Hezbollah pounded Israel with 140 rockets earlier Friday and tensions threaten to spill into all-out war.

WASHINGTON — The White House says a video showing Israeli soldiers pushing three apparently lifeless bodies from rooftops during a raid in the northern part of the occupied West Bank “deeply disturbing.”

An AP journalist in the town of Qabatiya witnessed three soldiers push the bodies off the roofs of adjacent multi-story buildings, sending them falling out of view.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday that “it clearly would depict abhorrent and egregious behavior by professional soldiers” if the video is found to be authentic.

"We reached out immediately to our Israeli counterparts about it, and we pressed them for more details,” he said. “They have assured us that they’re going to investigate this, and that there will be proper accountability if it’s warranted. And we’re going to be very eager to see what the IDF investigation finds.”

The Israeli military in a statement called it “a serious incident that does not coincide with IDF values and the expectations from IDF soldiers,” using the acronym the military goes by.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration continues to hold on to hope that surging tensions between Israel and Hezbollah won’t escalate into all-out war following Israel Defense Forces air strike Friday near Beirut.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said he was unaware of Israel providing the U.S. any forewarning ahead of the operation.

“We still believe that there is time and space for a diplomatic solution,” Kirby said. “We think that that is the best way forward. War is not inevitable up there at the Blue Line. And we’re going to continue to do everything we can to prevent it.”

The Israeli strikes near Beirut followed two waves of deadly attacks earlier this week of hundreds of hand-held pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants exploding. The sophisticated sabotage operations are widely believed to be carried out by Israel.

The White House has declined to publicly comment on the electronic device attacks beyond saying the U.S. was not involved.

Palestinian authorities say 15 people were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in multiple Israeli attacks.

An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.

In Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City, another person was killed and several others injured when a vehicle was hit by an Israeli strike, the Civil Defense said.

Late Thursday, six more people were killed in a strike that hit a home in the center of Gaza City, while another was killed in Beit Lahya, north of Gaza City.

Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

Israel's foreign ministry said Friday it submitted two legal briefs in response to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against the country's leaders.

The court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders. One of them was since assassinated in what was believed to be an Israeli strike.

The foreign ministry said it has submitted two legal briefs challenging the court’s jurisdiction to arrest Israeli leaders and claiming the court did not provide Israel the opportunity to investigate itself before requesting the warrants.

“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor,” wrote Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein on the social media platform X. He said Israel remained “steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice” and would continue to protect its citizens against militancy.

Israel is not a party to the court. Rights groups say the country has struggled to investigate itself in the past. Netanyahu has brushed off calls for a state investigation into the failings that led to the Oct. 7 attack.

BAGHDAD — A leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia was killed Friday in a strike in Syria, a war monitor and a militia official said.

Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group — which is different from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — said in a statement that Abu Haidar al-Khafaji was killed “while performing his duties as a security advisor in Damascus.”

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that a leader in Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group was killed and another person injured in a drone strike on the car they were traveling in on the road to the Damascus airport.

An official with an Iraqi militia confirmed that a car carrying a group of militia members was struck in Damascus, killing one person and injuring three others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

There was no comment from Israeli officials on the strike. Israel frequently strikes Iranian and Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes.

Tensions have heightened in the region following a wave of apparently remotely detonated explosions in Lebanon targeting pagers and walkie talkies belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah. The attacks, widely blamed on Israel, which has not commented on them, killed at least 37 people - including two children - and wounded about 3,000.

— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra

BEIRUT — Israel’s military killed two Hezbollah members who were planting explosives along the border over the weekend, Israel’s military and an official with a Lebanese group said.

The official with a Lebanese group said the two members of the militant group were killed Sunday and their bodies were taken by Israeli troops because they were too close to the fence along the tense frontier. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

On Thursday, Israel’s military released a video it said was taken by one of the fighters showing the militants coming under fire. The military said that the two fighters were killed by Israeli troops as they tried to plant an improvised explosive device near a military post.

In the days following the tense border interaction, thousands of devices exploded in different parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing 37 people and wounding around 3,000 others. The attack was blamed on Israel, and many of those killed or injured were members of Hezbollah.

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.

A woman grieves during the funeral for three Palestinian militants killed in an Israeli military operation in the West Bank town of Qabatiya, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Mourners march during the funeral for three Palestinian militants killed in an Israeli military operation in the West Bank town of Qabatiya, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Mourners gather around the flag-draped casket of Israeli reservist Major Nael Fwarsy, one of two soldiers killed by a Lebanese drone attack on northern Israel, during his funeral in Maghar, Israel, Friday, Sept 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept a rocket fired from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Ambulances arrive at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

People stand on top of a damaged car at the scene of a missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Right-wing Israelis with relatives held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and their supporters, rally against a hostage deal, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. The placard in Hebrew reads: " To bathe in his blood." (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Houses are engulfed in fire as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinians duck for cover as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

FILE - Hezbollah fighters carry one of the coffins of four fallen comrades who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)