The largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War was a rare example of everyone getting what they wanted. Still, Vladimir Putin has particular reason for satisfaction today.
He extracted an assassin and seven undercover agents from American and European prisons by demonstrating his willingness to pile up hostages in jail until US President Joe Biden gave him the deal he sought.
The Russian president showed his spies abroad that silence and loyalty will be rewarded if they’re caught. And he reveled in casting Germany and other US allies as secondary actors in the main negotiation between Moscow and Washington.
So far, so predictable in the us-versus-them world triggered by Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But he also put down a potential signal of a readiness to seek a way out.
The scenes of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris welcoming home Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and the other Americans were a big win for the Democrats after the tumult over the president’s withdrawal from November’s election.
Biden showed he remains in charge and Harris got reflected glory as his potential presidential successor. Her opponent Donald Trump, who’d boasted that Putin would release Gershkovich for him if he regained the White House, was left to carp from the sidelines.
Before Biden withdrew, Putin said that he’d prefer to see him reelected. The Kremlin views him as more predictable and certain to abide by agreements.
The deal for the prisoner exchange set aside emotion and principle for hard-nosed pragmatism. Both sides showed they could get the job done.
For Putin, that was a marker for resuming the approach in seeking to resolve Russia’s war on Ukraine and the confrontation with the US if he faces a Harris White House after November. — Anthony Halpin