2024 US-Russia Prisoner Exchange in Türkiye. Is it misrepresented? Read the fact check and discover the reality

On August 1, 2024, a video posted by Clash Report on the social media platform X, allegedly shows footage of a current prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States taking place in Ankara, Türkiye. The video garnered more than 135.4 thousand views.

Fact Check

DFRAC examined the video in question and we found credible media sources like NDTV, The Washington Post, ABP News , YouTube video and Tweets which suggests that a prisoner exchange did occur between Russia and the United States, but it took place on April 27, 2022, and not in 2024 as claimed.This exchange involved former US Marine Trevor Reed and Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko. Reed had been jailed in Russia for allegedly assaulting police officers, while Yaroshenko was convicted of drug smuggling in the United States.

The swap was the result of lengthy negotiations between the two countries and happened amid high tensions due to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. Reed was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison in July 2020 for allegedly attacking police officers while drunk, although he pleaded not guilty and claimed to have no memory of the incident. Yaroshenko, on the other hand, was arrested in Liberia in 2010 for drug trafficking and later sentenced to 20 years in a US prison.

Conclusion

It is clear from DFRAC’s fact check that the video in question does not depict a current or recent prisoner exchange. This is not a recent video but an old one from the year 2022. Hence the video is misleading and misrepresent time.