Celebrate Puck's 3rd anniversary! Take 20% off your first year of Puck today with code THREESAPARTY.

  • Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Gift Puck Careers

Paul Whelan

russia prisoner swap vladimir putin
Julia Ioffe • August 6, 2024

Putin’s Hostage Games

While the Americans released by Russia in last week’s prisoner swap celebrated their emancipation, the Kremlin set about carefully spinning the exchange as confirmation of their captives’ guilt, while also celebrating a political coup of their own.
Julia Ioffe • May 2, 2023
Inside the Gershkovich Prisoner Swap Crisis
Administration officials say that Moscow appears to be in absolutely no mood to negotiate.
Despite Biden’s public commitment to bring Evan home, the people tasked with making it happen worry privately that Moscow hasn’t made clear what it wants in return for his freedom.
Julia Ioffe • December 8, 2022
Inside the Griner Prisoner Swap
Brittney Griner
Behind the scenes, the White House has alternated between pessimism and fury over Russia’s bad-faith negotiations, which is just how the Kremlin likes it. In the end, Biden had to settle for what he could get: a partial political victory.