East meets West in Ankara: Inside the prisoner swap with Russia

The prisoner exchange between the West and Russia last week was the largest swap since the end of the cold war. At Turkey’s Ankara airport, Russia and Belarus released 16 detainees, while the United States, Poland, Germany, Slovenia, and Norway released 8.

In this week’s Europe in 30 Minutes special episode, deputy director of ECFR Vessela Tcherneva welcomes welcomes distinguished policy fellow Camille Grand, who leads ECFR's defence intitative, senior policy fellow Gustav Gressel, who focuses on Russia, eastern Europe, and defence policy, and senior policy fellow Kadri Liik, an expert on Russian domestic and foreign policy. Who are the winners and losers of this historic prisoner swap? What kinds of messages does this send domestically in the US, Russia, and Germany? And why did this take place in Turkey?

This episode was recorded on 5 August 2024.

Bookshelf

The Brothers Lionheart, by Astrid Lindgren

Perestroika, by Mikhail Gorbachev

The Idea of China, by Alicja Bachulska, Mark Leonard, and Janka Oertel

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