Several Americans and other Westerners have been freed, along with a number of Russian citizens who had been jailed in their own country, in a major prisoner swap involving multiple nations. Why did President Vladimir Putin's government release them, and why now?
Vladimir Putin signed executive orders pardoning Paul Nicholas Whelan, Kevin Lik, Evan Gershkovich, Demuri Voronin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alsu Kurmasheva, Lilia Chanysheva, Vadim Ostanin, Ksenia Fadeyeva, Alexandra Skochilenko, Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov, and Oleg Orlov.