Russia

The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free, the White House said.Astonishing in scope, 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.

This week marks the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine. A Naples woman describes the ordeal that brought her to Southwest Florida.

Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief armed rebellion against Russia earlier this year, was on the passenger list of a private jet that crashed Wednesday, killing all 10 people on board, emergency officials said. It wasn’t immediately clear if Prigozhin was on the plane.

Russian troops deployed to protect the capital withdrew Sunday after a mercenary forces beat a retreat. But the short-lived revolt could have long-term consequences for President Vladimir Putin’s two-decade hold on power and his war in Ukraine.

The rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow before abruptly reversing course will move to neighboring Belarus and not face prosecution, the Kremlin said Saturday, as part of a deal to defuse a crisis that represented the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.

President Vladimir Putin vowed Saturday to defend Russia against an armed rebellion by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led his troops out of Ukraine and into a key city south of Moscow.The uprising, which Putin called “a stab in the back,” was the biggest threat to his leadership in over two decades in power.

We get a sense of how Russia’s war on Ukraine is impacting Russian people with Dr. Kathryn Stoner, she is Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law — both at Stanford University — where she is also a Professor of Political Science (by courtesy). Dr. Stoner is also a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) at the Hoover Institution.

The Naples Council on World Affairs is hosting “The Path Forward into a Decisive Decade” seminar on Friday (Feb. 24). The council’s mission is to “educate, inspire, and engage Americans in international affairs, and the critical global issues of our times.”

Following the death, Tuesday, of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the age of 91, we take a look back at his visit to Southwest Florida in March 2006, when he spoke before a crowd of thousands at Florida Gulf Coast University. Gorbachev was also interviewed for WGCU-FM's "Gulf Coast Life," by former show host Russell Lewis.