Prisoner swap deals such as the one reached last week to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, set a dangerous precedent, retired CIA analyst Fred Fleitz told Newsmax on Sunday.
"The problem here is that when we make deals like this, we're creating a precedent that other rogue states will use to seize Americans who they can trade away to get their killers and assassins and terrorists out of Western prisons," Fleitz told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend."
The deal allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure the return of assassin Vadim Krasikov to Moscow.
Krasikov was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump came under fire last week for congratulating Putin over the deal, which involved the release of some 2 dozen prisoners overall from several countries.
Fleitz, though, said Sunday that Trump was being "sarcastic."
"Putin succeeded in doing something he's wanted to do for several years, and that was to free Vadim Krasikov," said Fleitz. "This is someone who Putin was always willing to give away Americans to [in order] to get this assassin freed."
The deal overall was "great" because Americans being held hostage under an authoritarian regime were freed, "But Putin got eight criminals out, including a ruthless assassin, a murderer who probably will kill again," Fleitz said.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub, also on Sunday's program, likewise said he is concerned about the precedent that was set in the prisoner swap, said to be the largest since the end of the Cold War.
"Now any thug or dictator overseas who sees an American try to kidnap them and hold them for ransom, basically in hopes that they'll get a greater deal out of this particular White House or any potential future White House that involves someone of the Joe Biden mentality," said Gaub.
That, he said, "Just increases risk across the board. We have to be cautious at one point where we celebrate the return of Americans, which is something that we should do. But remind ourselves that there's always a price to pay in any of these exchanges."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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