Friday Briefing: Evan Gershkovich freed in prisoner swap

August 2, 2024

	By Whet Moser

Good morning. We’re covering a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West, and a Times investigation of the killing of a Hamas leader in Iran.

Plus, a look inside the Olympic Village.

Evan Gershkovich on a plane leaving Russia, in an image from video footage provided by the Russian Federal Security Service. Russian Federal Security Service/RTR, via Associated Press

Russia freed Evan Gershkovich in a major prisoner swap

A sweeping prisoner swap yesterday involving seven countries freed the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other Americans who were being held in Russia, along with several Russian opposition figures.

It was the most far-reaching exchange between Russia and the West in decades. Here’s the latest.

Western governments released eight people, including Vadim Krasikov, who had been sentenced to life in prison in Germany for assassinating a Chechen former fighter in Berlin.

Russia released 16 prisoners, including Oleg Orlov, a co-chairman of the human rights group Memorial; Vladimir Kara-Murza, who won the Pulitzer Prize this year for columns he had written for The Washington Post from his prison cell; and Ilya Yashin, a well-known opposition leader who was also behind bars. These are the 24 prisoners — from the U.S., Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia — who were released in the swap.

The linchpin of the deal for Russia was Krasikov’s release, which President Vladimir Putin had long sought. I asked my colleague Neil MacFarquhar, who has covered the Kremlin for years, why Putin wanted him back so much.

“Russia passed a law in 2006 which formally permitted the extrajudicial killing abroad of those Moscow accuses of extremism and terrorism,” Neil told me. “So in the eyes of the Kremlin, Krasikov’s assassination in Berlin of a Chechen separatist leader whom Russia labeled a terrorist was legitimate.”

“In addition, Krasikov was an agent of the F.S.B. — the successor agency of the K.G.B., where Putin spent the bulk of his career — so there was an element of rescuing one of his own,” he added.

At the White House, President Biden, who negotiated the release as he was considering leaving the presidential race, gave remarks surrounded by relatives of Gershkovich and of other freed prisoners. He said that he wished the prisoners “happy almost home” when he spoke with them earlier.

On a street, a crowd surrounds a hearse decorated with vines and Arabic script. Some people are waving flags.

The funeral for Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran yesterday. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

Inside the plan that killed a Hamas leader in Iran

A Times investigation found that Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of Hamas, was assassinated on Wednesday by an explosive device that was smuggled two months ago into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying. It was remotely triggered around 2 a.m.

The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Haniyeh had stayed there several times when visiting Tehran, Middle Eastern officials said. Israel has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the killing, but Israeli intelligence officials briefed the U.S. and other Western governments on the operation in its immediate aftermath.

Israel also claimed today that it had killed Muhammad Deif, the leader of Hamas’s armed wing, who is believed to have been one of the main planners of the Oct. 7 attacks. The Israeli military said that, based on an intelligence assessment, Deif had been killed in an airstrike in Gaza in mid-July.

🇺🇸 U.S. ELECTION 2024

The presidential election is less than 100 days away. This is what we’re watching.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaking in Houston on Wednesday. Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Democrats began the process to officially nominate Harris

An online roll call, expected to conclude on Monday, began yesterday to formally select Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee. She’s expected to announce her running mate by then as well.

As the delegates prepared to vote, the Harris campaign and the Republican Party dealt with the fallout from Donald Trump’s false claims about her racial identity.

Harris carefully hit back, calling his comments “the same old show” of “divisiveness and disrespect.”
JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, called Harris a “phony” who “grew up in Canada.”
Several Senate Republicans criticized Trump’s strategy of attacking her identity, but not the substance of the attack.

Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us and we’ll find the answers.

Stay up-to-date: Live coverage | Poll tracker | The “Run-Up” podcast | On Politics newsletter

MORE TOP NEWS

Several people in police uniform stand outside a building.

The Liverpool court where the suspect in the stabbings in Southport, England, appeared yesterday. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

U.K.: A judge allowed the naming of the 17-year-old charged in the stabbing rampage in Southport, England, to help counter misinformation.
U.S.: The Secret Service failed to make proper use of technology that could have helped protect Trump from getting shot at a rally last month.
Sept. 11: Three accused plotters agreed to plead guilty at Guantánamo Bay, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who has boasted that he was the architect of the attacks.
Sudan: A famine has been officially declared in a city in the Darfur region, which has been under siege by a paramilitary group since April.
North Korea: South Korea offered to send humanitarian aid after the isolated North reported extensive damage from floods.
Pakistan: Demonstrations over the past few weeks reflect frustration with the five-month-old government and threaten to plunge the country back into political turmoil.

Inflation: The Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years amid slower inflation.
Turkey: A new law aimed at moving stray dogs to shelters, and allowing some to be euthanized, has critics worried that it could be used against opponents of the president.

Olympics

Simone Biles on the balance beam yesterday. Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

Gymnastics: Simone Biles reclaimed the all-around women’s gold.
Swimming: Australia won gold in the women’s 4x200 freestyle relay. The U.S. took silver, making Katie Ledecky the most decorated female Olympics swimmer ever.
Style: The South Korean pistol shooter Kim Yeji is the internet’s new favorite Olympian.

MORNING READ

Gouda accounts for about 60 percent of the national cheese production in the Netherlands. Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times

The small Dutch city of Gouda, built on the peat marsh of a river delta, is vulnerable to sinking. The oldest part of the city center subsides about three to six millimeters each year because of rising sea levels.

Without a plan to tackle the problem, the region’s cheese industry and its namesake cheese could be gone in 50 to 100 years.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Green shoots: Last year vandals chopped down the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian’s Wall in England. This year, tiny sprouts were spotted by its stump.
Ride in style: It took Nancy Martiny a year to make her first saddle. She's up to 500, which sell for $5,000 and up.
Cool it: David Keith wants to keep the Earth from overheating by blocking the sun.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

SPORTS

A bed with the inscription Paris 2024 on the quilt and the footboard inside a room at the Olympic village.

The infamous cardboard bed at the Olympic Village. Maja Hitij/Getty Images

“10 girls, two bathrooms. #olympicvillage.”

The U.S. tennis star Coco Gauff is one of the world’s biggest sports stars. But to compete on one of the world’s biggest stages, she lives in a utilitarian dorm that turned into chaos as she and her teammates prepped their looks for the opening ceremony.

While the Olympic Village has its perks, which include delicious muffins, athletes have complained that the communal, sustainable housing makes it hard to compete. For some, it’s the infamous cardboard beds or rooms without curtains; for others, the food; for many, the water-cooled rooms that don’t cool enough.

Go inside the village of 14,000 elite athletes.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A blue serving platter with tofu, scrambled eggs, pork, scallions.

Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Greg Lofts.

Cook: Pair the bold, savory taste of mapo tofu with the creaminess of scrambled eggs.

Move: If you dread exercise, try this 10-minute workout.

Watch: Check out these three great documentaries to stream.

Listen: These five classical music picks highlight contemporary music.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. Justin Porter will be here next week. — Whet

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