Covington, Wilmer Played Roles in the US-Russia Prisoner Swap

Covington, Wilmer Played Roles in the US-Russia Prisoner Swap

August 9, 2024, The National Law Journal

The National Law Journal featured Stephen Rademaker in a story about Covington’s representation of U.S.-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and its help to secure the release of one of its journalists, Alsu Kurmasheva, who was one of 16 people released as part of the prisoner exchange with Russia.

The firm began working on a pro-bono basis to free Kurmasheva in November 2023, engaging with the State Department and other Biden administration officials, as well as members of Congress, to raise the profile of her wrongful detention and advocate for her release.

“Truthfully, our main objective was to make sure she wouldn’t be left behind and that she wouldn’t be forgotten,” Stephen said.

Stephen added, “Our objective was persuading the State Department to designate Alsu as wrongfully detained, basically to determine that the reason she was being held was because she was an American, not because she had failed to register her passport, not because she was an unregistered foreign agent, but because she was an American and she was a reporter for a news service, an American government sponsored news service that the Russian government doesn’t like.”

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