Longer then I realized.
in part:
WHAT WE FOUND
Government officials have not offered details of the proposed deal outlined to the Russians, though a person familiar with the matter said the U.S. government has offered to trade convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner.
While Russia has not publicly agreed to a deal yet, American officials have expressed President Joe Biden’s hope to free detained Americans.
“I will say that the President and his team are willing to take extraordinary steps to bring our people home, as we’ve demonstrated with Trevor Reed, and that’s what we’re doing right here. It’s actively happening now,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters on July 27.
In April 2022, U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed was brought back to the U.S. in exchange for a Russian drug trafficker. Reed was swapped in Turkey for Konstantin Yaroshenko, who had been serving a 20-year prison sentence in a cocaine-trafficking conspiracy case.
Prior to that, in 2010, the U.S. released 10 Russian spies and in return, the Russian government released three Russians who spied on behalf of the U.S. or the U.K., and one Russian accused of being a double agent working for both Russia and the U.S. According to the FBI, the Russian spies had assimilated into American society (some by using stolen identities).
“They married, bought homes, raised children, and held jobs—all while working for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service,” the FBI said. The spy ring was the inspiration for the television show “The Americans.”
Twenty-five years earlier, in June 1985, the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union agreed to the largest-ever prisoner exchange of the time. The U.S. released three spies - one of which was famed Polish spy Marian Zacharski who stole military technology - in exchange for 23 people held by the Russians.
The first major prisoner exchange between Russia and the U.S. was in 1962, with the then-Soviet Union. The exchange took place on the Glienicke Bridge, which at the time linked East and West Germany.
The U.S. released KGB spy Rudolf Abel in return for Air Force pilot Capt. Francis Gary Powers. The KGB was the main security agency for the Soviet Union. After Powers' plane was shot down during a reconnaissance mission, he was captured, sentenced for spying, and held prisoner by the Soviets until his exchange on February 10, 1962.
more:
http://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/global-conflicts/united-states-has-swapped-prisoners-with-russia-before/536-99bf26ab-4d72-4215-946f-a65ff9543b68
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