Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that "traitors" who were exchanged with the US in a major prisoner swap may need to take up new names and place themselves under a witness protection program.
"Of course, we would like to see Russia's traitors rot in a penitentiary or die in prison, as has often happened. But it is more useful to get out our own, who worked for the country, for the Fatherland, for all of us," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram profile. He further added that those exchanged in the swap may need to disguise themselves.
According to media reports, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan were a part of the exchange, with US President Joe Biden confirming Gerskhovich's release, the Kremlin, on the other hand, declined to comment.
