‘Pommel Horse Guy’ Stephen Nedoroscik Delivers Again at the Paris Summer Olympics

It was hard to tell who was the bigger draw in the Bercy Arena on Aug. 3—Simone Biles or Stephen Nedoroscik. Biles competed in vault with teammate Jade Carey, and Nedoroscik competed in pommel horse, the only member of the men’s gymnastics team to qualify for an event final.

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The roar of the crowd was equally deafening for both—an ode to the incredible gymnastics each has performed under pressure in Paris—Biles in winning the team event and all-around, and Nedorscik in pulling a clutch routine to help the Team USA men’s team win its first medal in 16 years.

At some point before competing, when the cameras are focused on him, Nedoroscik has a ritual—tugging on his ear; it’s one he performs before every competition to acknowledge his family and loved ones. It started as a secret greeting to his paternal grandfather, who passed away last year, but he continues as a way to say “hey” to his relatives.

He sent the signal again as he walked out to receive the bronze medal, behind Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan who earned the country’s first Olympic gold medal in gymnastics and Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakstan, who won the silver medal in first appearance at the Games.

Nedoroscik’s bronze is the second medal for the U.S. men’s team, who earned bronze in the team event, and will be the last at the Paris Games, since Nedoroscik was the only member to qualify for an event final.

A fan of solving Rubik’s Cubes as a way to relax, Nedoroscik sensed the day was going his way when he solved the cube in under 10 seconds, but then worried that might be the best thing that happened to him today. It wasn’t.

For all the frenzy on the internet about Nedoroscik’s look, in which his black rimmed glasses play a big part, the 25-year-old Massachusetts native actually competes sans eyewear on the pommel horse, the event he made famous during qualification when he waited 2.5 hours just to compete in the one event.

Nedoroscik says he doesn’t actually need to see in order to swing his legs around the apparatus and move his body across it. He likes to visualize his routines, which is what triggered the slew of memes when he was captured with his head back and eyes closed waiting to compete during the team final on July 29. “I’m walking through the motions, flexing my muscles so I have good muscle memory,” he said of the practice after the U.S. Olympic trials at the end of June.

He put himself back in that zone on the pommel horse for the event final—earning an 8.9 out of 10.0 points for execution, which is what edged him above the Tokyo champion, Britain’s Max Whitlock.

His family and girlfriend, Tess McCracken, a retired collegiate gymnast whom he met on their first day at Pennsylvania State University during gymnastics team orientation, were in Paris to witness Nedoroscik’s viral performance in the team event and his second medal in the pommel horse final. The bespectacled graduate in electrical engineering now lives in Florida with McCracken and a cat named Kyushu for the city where Nedoroscik won his world championship title in pommel horse in 2021. McCracken works for a contract research organization in the biopharmaceutical industry and says Nedoroscik has been tightly focused on making the Olympic team and performing well in Paris, and for months has been cutting out distractions in order to train and be mentally prepared for the 45-second spurts that he’s done on the horse.

Nedoroscik picked up the pommel horse when a coach spotted his skills and suggested that he could be a national champion on that apparatus. He’s done that one better and is now an Olympic medalist.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s McClenaghan delivered a stunning routine, which wasn’t the most difficult of the competition but earned an 8.933 in execution, and continued his dominance in the event—he was world champion in 2022 and 2023, following Nedoroscik, who won the title in 2021. “What an amazing final to be part of,” McClenaghan said. “I was saying to Stephen that this was the best pommel horse final that ever happened, ever in the history of men’s gymnastics. To be a part of that is absolutely incredible. Any one of those eight finalists [competing] could have taken gold today.” He admitted he was nervous watching Nedoroscik, who competed after him, because he knew the American “has huge difficulty and can pull it off when it matters.”

Good friends who have a strong respect for each other, McClenaghan and Nedoroscik said they talked about what comes next—“LA baby, let’s go”—McClenaghan said he told Nedoroscik, referring to the next summer Olympics in Los Angeles. “I love the kudos he’s getting for the team final result—I love watching everyone finding out about Stephen Nedoroscik,” McClenaghan said of his competitor’s sudden internet fame.

On women’s vault, each gymnast performed two vaults and their scores were averaged. Team USA’s Biles faced off again against Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, after saying that “I don’t want to compete against Rebeca no more…She’s way too close. I was uncomfortable guys; I was stressing,” she said following the team event in Paris.

The event finals are usually when gymnasts decide to bring out riskier or more difficult skills they have trained—the ones that could cost them valuable points in the qualification, team and all-around events if they make mistakes. Biles, however, decided to perform her Biles II, the Yurchenko double pike vault, during the all-around event because, she said, she felt Andrade might surpass her without it. “She’s way too close [in her scores]” Biles said after winning the all-around over Andrade. “On each event we’re very similar in scores so I was like, ‘OK, I think I have to bring out the big guns this time.’”

Biles stuck to that strategy in the vault final, opting to fly through the air with the Biles II for her opening vault. She built up so much momentum in the two flips she did in the air above the vault that she hopped back on the landing and stepped slightly out of bounds, earning a 0.1 deduction. She also generated enough power in her second vault, the Cheng, to hop backward on her landing. But her average score of 15.3 was enough for gold, 0.334 points ahead of Andrade who earned silver. It’s Biles’ 10^th Olympic medal, and seventh gold. In Paris, Biles has earned gold in every event in which she competed.

Biles’ teammate Jade Carey, who was also part of the Tokyo team, landed two strong vaults and won bronze. Carey was also expected to compete in the floor event final in which she won gold in Tokyo. However, during the qualification in Paris, Carey stepped out of bounds and had an uncharacteristic fall and revealed she was feeling unwell that day, and that there was “actually something wrong,” without revealing the cause. Only two athletes from each country are eligible to compete in an event final, and Carey scored below Biles and Chiles, who qualified for the U.S.

All of the women who competed in the qualification round at the start of the Olympics in Paris—Biles, Carey, Chiles, and Lee—qualified for at least one event final. Lee competes on Aug. 4 on uneven bars, and on the following day, Biles and Lee will compete on balance beam and Biles and Chiles on floor exercise.

source https://time.com/7007379/pommel-horse-guy-stephen-nedoroscik-delivers-again-paris-summer-olympics/

Forecasters Expect Depression to Become Tropical Storm Debby as it Nears Florida

MIAMI — A tropical depression over Cuba is growing better organized, forecasters said Saturday, and is likely to bring drenching rain and coastal flooding to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The storm strengthened into a tropical depression late Friday, and is expected to become a tropical storm by Saturday night, once it has maximum sustained winds of 39 mph (63 kph) or more. If the depression reaches tropical storm status, it would be named Debby, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

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Circulation was centered just south of Cienfuegos, Cuba, on Saturday morning, but associated wind and thunderstorms were spread out over a broad region, including southern Florida, the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. One location in the middle of the Florida Keys island chain was reporting sustained winds of 30 mph (48 kph) on Saturday morning.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami forecasts that the depression will strengthen as it curves northward off the southwest Florida coast, where the water has been extremely warm, with temperatures approaching 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius) this week.

Predictions show the system could come ashore as strong tropical storm late Sunday or early Monday and cross over northern Florida into the Atlantic Ocean, where it’s likely to remain a tropical storm threatening Georgia and the Carolinas early next week. Tropical storm warnings are posted for most of Florida’s west coast and the Dry Tortugas. A hurricane watch is posted for parts of the Big Bend, recognizing that there is a chance that Debby could reach hurricane status before coming ashore.

Flat Florida is prone to flooding even on sunny days when so-called king tides surge in coastal areas. This storm is predicted to push up storm tides of 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 meters) along most of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay, with a higher tide of 3 to 5 feet predicted farther north in Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region, where the Florida peninsula bends westward into the state’s Panhandle region.

Tropical storms and hurricanes can also trigger river flooding and overwhelm drainage systems and the region’s canals. Forecasters are warning of 5 to 10 inches (125 mm to 250 mm) of rain, which could create “locally considerable” flash and urban flooding. Forecasters are also already warning of moderate flooding for some rivers along Florida’s West Coast.

Some of the heaviest rains could actually come next week in a region along the Atlantic Coast from Jacksonville, Florida, north through Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina.

People in some Florida cities on Friday filled sandbags to protect against possible flooding. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for most Florida counties, extending from the Florida Keys up through Central Florida and the Tampa Bay region and into the western Panhandle.

Meanwhile, far off Mexico’s western coast, Hurricane Carlotta continued moving westward, deeper into the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, with top sustained winds reaching 90 mph (145 kph). The hurricane center said Carlotta may strengthen a little more, but should begin losing strength on Sunday as it moves into an area of unfavorable winds and drier air. The storm is likely to dissipate into a remnant of thunderstorms in three to four days. No watches or warnings are in effect.

source https://time.com/7007351/forecasters-depression-tropical-storm-debby-cuba-florida-gulf-coast/

We Do Need More Moms in Politics. JD Vance Won’t Get Us There

Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance’s past comment that Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic leaders are “a bunch of childless cat ladies miserable at their own lives” is the line that keeps on living. Never mind that Vance’s comments are false. Harris is a mom: her two stepchildren recognize her as their parent, as does their biological mother.

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Of course, having children shouldn’t be a pre-requisite for office—part of the job of a political leader is being able to understand the challenges of people who are different from them. But in fact, as a mom, I’m with Vance on wishing more moms would hold office. To make that happen, he and other lawmakers need to focus on the big barrier to moms of young kids running for office: childcare.

It’s unsurprising that Harris doesn’t have biological children. Being a mother is a huge impediment to winning political office, because in the U.S., moms are responsible for the majority of the childcare, and childcare is so expensive that they often can’t afford to pay for it personally while running a political campaign. That’s why so many of the women who have held the highest offices in our country don’t have kids—like Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court and cabinet secretaries such as Condoleezza Rice and Janet Napolitano. Just 6.8% of members of Congress and 5.3% of state legislators are moms to children under age 18, according to the Vote Mama Foundation.

Read More: America’s Moms Are Running on Empty. We Need to Do More to Support Them.

In 28 states, childcare costs more than in-state college tuition, according to a 2023 NetCredit study. And people running for or holding political office often work exceptionally long hours, so their childcare costs are likely higher than average. What’s more, politicians in 17 states can’t use campaign funds to pay for childcare while running for office, according to the Vote Mama Foundation. And politicians in 38 states and Washington, DC can’t use campaign funds for caregiving while they’re carrying out their official duties. That’s a huge problem because the vast majority of state legislatures don’t pay lawmakers enough to afford the cost of living in their states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Politicians should be allowed to use campaign funds to cover these costs because most moms otherwise won’t be able to afford childcare while earning little or no money as a political candidate or state legislator.

Lawmakers like Vance also need to help make childcare more affordable. One way they could do that is by restoring the billions in childcare funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act which expired in September, resulting in immediate increases in childcare costs. Not to mention, it would also likely boost the economy. A new analysis from the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project shows labor force participation by women with children under age five has fallen since September, when this funding expired. Congress could also expand the child tax credit, which would put more money in parents’ pockets for childcare. But on August 1, Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan bill which would do this.

More broadly, we all need to rethink our stereotypes of working moms. A lot of people assume when women have kids, we become less invested in our careers. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell famously gave voice to this assumption in 2008 when he was caught on a hot mic saying Janet Napolitano was perfect for role of Homeland Security Secretary because “Janet has no family. Perfect. She can devote, literally, 19, 20 hours a day to” her work.

But Lauren Smith Brody, founder of The Fifth Trimester, a gender equity consultancy focused on caregivers at work, told me her research suggests the opposite: When women have children we’re often motivated to work more, both so we can afford the expenses that come with kids and because we’re worried about the world our kids are going to live in and want to try to fix it. (This was absolutely the case for me when I became a mom.)

Women who seek the hugely demanding job of political office also need more support from their partners. The latest Pew research confirms that, among opposite-sex couples, women still do the vast majority of the childcare and household work, even when we work full time. This needs to change. Employers can help make that possible by not expecting staffers to put in an excessive number of hours. Labor economist Claudia Goldin’s Nobel prize-winning research shows that when this happens it’s often the woman who allows her career to take a back seat so that her husband can overwork, since someone has to be around for the kids.

So, it looks like Vance got a couple things wrong: Harris is most certainly a mom, and childless people aren’t less qualified for office (by his flawed logic of believing politicians can’t comprehend the experiences of people who are different from them, only white, married, cisgender men, then, should vote for Donald Trump and Vance). Still, he’s right to point out that there aren’t many moms in top political office. But instead of isolating women even further with his comments, it would behoove Vance to start thinking about why.

Good thing that, as a member of Congress, he’s in a position to help fix the challenges women are up against by restoring childcare funding that could help moms pursue political office and other work. States need to allow parents to use campaign funds to pay for childcare while campaigning or working in government roles. Other parental figures like dads need to step up and do equal amounts of caregiving, which will only be truly possible when employers stop expecting overwork. And all of us need to rethink the way we view mothers and their motivations.

Moms of young kids are often hugely ambitious—but our country has set up the motherload of barriers to them running for office.

source https://time.com/7006986/moms-in-politics-jd-vance-essay/

The Growing Movement to Make Global Philanthropy More Feminist

In recent years, the philanthropic world has increasingly recognized that investing in women and girls is essential for humanity to progress. Governments including Sweden, Canada, France, and Wales have adopted feminist approaches to their international development agendas, while some billionaires like Melinda French Gates—who recently announced $1 billion in spending on women and families over the next two years—have put their support behind organizations working on urgent issues such as reproductive rights in the U.S. 

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Research unequivocally backs the importance of funding this type of work: the World Bank argues that gender equality is “smart economics,” while a McKinsey report says that addressing the women’s health gap could add “years to life and life to years”—potentially boosting the global economy by $1 trillion annually by 2040. 

Despite exciting new funding commitments, however, wider numbers paint a less encouraging picture. In 2022, women’s rights organizations received only 0.34% of Official Development Assistance, or global aid flow designed to promote economic development and welfare, while only 0.42% of foundation grants were allocated towards women’s rights, according to the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, or AWID. The Women’s Philanthropy Institute finds that less than 2% of philanthropic giving in the U.S. directly benefits women and girls.

Read More: Melinda French Gates Is Going It Alone

“There is a lot of talk about doing this work globally, but not many dollars match that talk,” says Kiersten Marek, who founded the website Philanthropy Women. “I would argue that there is a ‘say/do’ gap in gender justice funding, both in the U.S. and globally.”

Even when donors take a gender lens to their giving portfolio, Marek says they tend to scale back their vision for feminist philanthropy over time. For example, Jennifer and Peter Buffett, the Founders and Co-Chairs of the NoVo Foundation, pledged a staggering $90 million in 2016 towards addressing structural problems facing girls and young women of color in the U.S.—the largest effort ever made by a private organization. Even so, by 2020, the Buffets had canceled plans to fund a women’s building in Manhattan and halted funding for critical programs focused on women and girls, saying that more donors needed to pony up for the work.

“Donors have a tendency to start off strong and strident, and then lose momentum over time,” Marek explains. 

Meanwhile, the need for funding has grown exponentially against a political landscape in which authoritarianism is on the rise and humanitarian crises have erupted around the world. In 2020, for example, the U.S. joined Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda to co-sponsor an international anti-abortion declaration. Between 2013 and 2017,  the “anti-gender” movement—which the U.N. describes as opposition to reproductive rights, sexuality, and gender-sensitive education in schools, the rights of the LGBT community, and in some cases, even the very notion of gender—received over $3.7 billion, more than triple the funding for LGBT groups globally in those years. 

In developing countries, women’s rights are being rolled back in extreme ways: the Taliban government in Afghanistan has banned women and girls from going to school, while women have been caught in the crossfire during the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. In countries like Sudan, women and girls are especially vulnerable to violence after a conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted last year.

Keeley Longate, co-director of a philanthropic initiative called the Gender Funders CoLab, says private organizations often struggle to align their work towards common causes that advance women’s rights. “Philanthropy isn’t built to be super collaborative, but there is a desire and a real, deep sense that gender work is essential,” says Longate. 

To help bridge this gap, 10 years ago, Longate’s CoLab brought together some of the biggest private foundations to form a community of funders who can leverage their power to supply more resources, particularly in the global south and east. Its members include the Ford Foundation, the Foundation for a Just Society, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. 

Between 2014 and 2023, CoLab members moved at least $2.2 billion to women’s rights and gender equality work. In 2017, the group helped secure a $45 million fund from the Dutch government for four Global South women’s funds, with private members agreeing to fund an accompanying initiative. In 2019, it helped establish the Equality Fund—the largest single investment ever made by a government in global feminist movements— by securing $300 million from the Canadian government after many private foundations held meetings in Ottawa to shine a light on funding feminist movements. And it has secured $354 million in pooled fund grants from bilateral donors, including for the Bulgarian Fund for Women, which supports 24 grassroots groups working to end gender-based violence. 

“CoLab has been able to bring the recognition that governments can’t do everything,” says Longate, “so here are the places or spaces where philanthropy can complement governments, and where governments can support philanthropy.” (This is the first time that CoLab has spoken out about its efforts publicly, in an effort to “further engage with the wider philanthropic community.”)

Monica Aleman, the Ford Foundation’s international program director of gender, racial, and ethnic justice, who works closely with CoLab, says this work can only be done by strengthening public-private partnerships. “That’s not something that we are accustomed to in the feminist movement, but I do think it’s important to open that door,” says Aleman.

Read More: Decisions Are Still Being Made For Women, Instead of By Them. We’re Suffering As a Result

The impact of feminist philanthropy can be enormous in directing resources to overlooked and underrepresented crises. A 2022 report from Shake the Table, a global research and action hub, and nonprofit advisory firm The Bridgespan Group found that women’s funding was at the forefront of supporting social movements and had the highest impact. “Women’s funds play critical roles in moving money to groups traditionally locked out of mainstream funding opportunities,” says a spokesperson for Shake the Table. Citing successful examples like the Black Feminist Fund in Sudan, the Dalan Fund supporting displaced Armenians of Nagorna-Karabakh, and the Urgent Action Fund in Papua New Guinea, the group has called on philanthropists to invest about $1.5 billion annually.

Yet, there is still a long way to go. While announcing her new chapter in philanthropy, Melinda French Gates wrote: “In nearly 20 years as an advocate for women and girls, I have learned that there will always be people who say it’s not the right time to talk about gender equality.”

She continued, “It’s frustrating and shortsighted.”

source https://time.com/7006985/feminist-philanthropy-melinda-gates-buffett-ford/

These Are the CDC’s New Rules for Flying With Your Dog

The CDC recently announced new rules for pet-owners planning on flying with their dogs, a change they say will simplify the process for those arriving to the U.S. from countries that are “dog rabies-free” or low-risk. The new regulations apply to those entering the country by land, plane, or cruise. 

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Beginning August 1st, 2024, pet owners entering the United States are required to fill out a CDC Dog Import Form upon arrival in the U.S. Pet owners can fill out the form on their travel date—though the CDC recommends preparing ahead and completing it a few days or up to six months before traveling from a dog rabies-free or low-risk country. 

The form will remain valid for 6 months and can be used multiple times for entry into the U.S. as long as the dog has not been in a high-rabies country. The form is free to fill out, but each pet will need its own form. To find out if a country is dog rabies-free or low-risk, check this website, which lists countries with high dog rabies risk. 

Those traveling from countries with a high risk of rabies are required to fill out both the CDC Dog Import Form and have either a certification of U.S.-issued rabies vaccination form or a USDA-endorsed export health certificate. 

All pets arriving from all countries must appear to be healthy upon arrival in the U.S., be at least six months of age, and have a microchip inserted before they are issued a rabies vaccine. 

Previously, there wasn’t a form for dogs traveling into the U.S. from countries with low or no risk of rabies. 

The United States has been free of dog rabies since 2007. The World Health Organization estimates that rabies kills an estimated 59,000 people a year across more than 150 countries, with almost all cases originating from the bite of an infected dog. 

source https://time.com/7007042/cdc-new-rules-flying-with-your-dog/

Brittney Griner Celebrates Evan Gershkovich’s Prison Release at the Olympics

WNBA star Brittney Griner was famously sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison in Aug. 2022 for carrying cannabis oil. The Texas-born athlete was initially detained in February 2022 and spent 10 months in Russian custody before being released in a U.S.-Russia prisoner swap in December 2022. Speaking out on Thursday, Griner said she was “emotional” and overjoyed to hear about the release of U.S. citizens Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Alsu Kurmasheva, who were freed from Russian jails in a new prisoner swap.

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“Great day. It’s a great day. It’s a great day,” said Griner, per the Associated Press. “We’ll talk more about it later. But head over heels happy for the families right now. Any day that Americans come home, that’s a win. That’s a win.”

Griner is currently in Paris representing the U.S. at the Paris Summer Olympics. On Thursday, she came off the bench to help Team USA win 87-74 against Belgium, securing their place in the quarter-finals on Aug. 7. 

Griner and her wife, Cherelle Griner, also shared  a joint statement on Instagram, addressing the release of the prisoners and expressing concern for other American hostages that remain overseas. 

“The Biden-Harris Administration showed true leadership once again by doing whatever it took to bring Americans home. Every American returned is a win,” the couple said. “As we extend support to those who have returned and celebrate the collective hands that helped to make American families whole—we must continue to do everything we can to shine a light on the remaining Americans detained. #BringThemHome.”

The athlete has long called for the release of Gershkovich and expressed support for the Wall Street Journal journalist and his family after he was sentenced to 16 years in prison last month, following 15 months of detainment in Russia.

“My heart goes out to him, his family, and all his loved ones,” Griner said in an interview with NBC’s Liz Kreutz. “We have to get him back. We have to. I went through that and I understand what that means.”

The prison swap on Thursday was the largest prisoner swap between the two countries since the end of the Cold War. Alongside the American citizens who were released, other dissidents who expressed discontent with Putin’s government were freed as well, including German, British, and Russian citizens. Altogether, Western countries combined to release eight prisoners in exchange for freeing Russia freeing 16 prisoners.

Since her release from prison in Russia, Griner has become an advocate for Americans wrongfully detained abroad, working with the Bring Our Families Home Campaign to help raise awareness and advocate for the safe return ofU.S. citizens detained abroad.

source https://time.com/7006912/brittney-griner-evan-gershkovich-us-russia-prison-release-comments-olympics/

U.S. and Russia Free Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan in Prisoner Swap

(WASHINGTON) — The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free, according to officials in Turkey, where the exchange took place.

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The Journal confirmed the release, with top editor Emma Tucker saying in a staff email: “I cannot even begin to describe the immense happiness and relief that this news brings and I know all of you will feel the same.”

The trade followed years of secretive back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Read More: The Fight to Free Evan Gershkovich

The sprawling deal is the latest in a series of prisoner swaps negotiated between Russia and the U.S. in the last two years but the first to require significant concessions from other countries. But the release of Americans has come at a price: Russia has secured the freedom of its own nationals convicted of serious crimes in the West by trading them for journalists, dissidents and other Westerners convicted and sentenced in a highly politicized legal system on charges the U.S. considers bogus.

The White House did not immediately release any details on the deal.

In a statement posted online, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President and CEO Stephen Capus acknowledged media reports that a journalist working for the broadcaster, Alsu Kurmasheva, would be released as part of the deal.

Capus said the broadcaster welcomed ’’news of Alsu’s imminent release and are grateful to the American government and all who worked tirelessly to end her unjust treatment by Russia.” Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, was convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military, accusations her family and employer have rejected.

The deal would be the latest exchange in the last two years between Washington and Moscow, including a December 2022 trade that brought WNBA star Brittney Griner back to the U.S. in exchange for notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout and a swap earlier that year of Marine veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

President Joe Biden placed securing the release of Americans held wrongfully overseas at the top of his foreign policy agenda for the six months before he leaves office. In his Oval Office address to the American people discussing his recent decision to drop his bid for a second term, the Democrat said, “We’re also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.”

Russia also got back Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services, according to a statement from the Turkish government.

Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich that Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.

Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.

Read More: Brittney Griner: What I Endured in a Russian Prison

Gershkovich was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, he moved to the country in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the Journal in 2022.

He had more than a dozen closed hearings over the extension of his pretrial detention or appeals for his release. He was taken to the courthouse in handcuffs and appeared in the defendants’ cage, often smiling for the many cameras.

U.S. officials last year made an offer to swap Gershkovich that was rejected by Russia, and Biden’s Democratic administration had not made public any possible deals since then.

Gershkovich was designated as wrongfully detained, as was Whelan, who was detained in December 2018 after traveling to Russia for a wedding. Whelan was convicted of espionage charges, which he and the U.S. have also said were false and trumped up, and he is serving a 16-year prison sentence.

Whelan had been excluded from prior high-profile deals involving Russia, including those involving Reed and Griner.

____

Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia, and Lee from Mongolia. Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

source https://time.com/7006539/evan-gershkovich-paul-whelan-freed-prisoner-swap/