Dissidents released in a prisoner swap have pledged to continue their struggle against Putin and shared details of their release.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was moved unexpectedly from a Siberian prison to a detention center in Moscow, initially fearing he was being taken for execution. Opposition activist Ilya Yashin was warned by a security operative that he would face death in prison if he returned to Russia.

Neither Kara-Murza nor Yashin were informed that they were part of a major prisoner exchange with the West—the largest since the Cold War—when they were transported to the airport on Thursday, some still in prison attire.

“It’s hard to shake the feeling of surrealism about what is happening,” Kara-Murza, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who had been serving a 25-year sentence, said at a news conference in Bonn, Germany.

In their first public appearance since their release, Kara-Murza and Yashin vowed to continue fighting for a free and democratic Russia, despite feeling a sense of loss as they were effectively expelled from their country, where many other political prisoners remain behind bars.

Yashin, sentenced to 8 1/2 years for criticizing the Ukraine war, described his release as an “illegal expulsion” and expressed his desire to return home. Both he and Kara-Murza stated they were not consulted about the swap and did not request a pardon from Putin, a step prison officials had suggested.

Kara-Murza acknowledged that such exchanges are vital for saving lives but highlighted the tragic example of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison earlier this year.

The historic swap, involving 16 prisoners including Kara-Murza, Yashin, and opposition figure Andre Pivovarov, was part of an agreement between Russia and its ally Belarus. The swap included American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, as well as former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who were received by their families and President Joe Biden in Maryland on Thursday night.

In return, Russia secured the release of eight Russians imprisoned in the West for crimes including spying, hacking, and a high-profile murder. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin serving a life sentence in Germany for a 2019 killing, was among those released and is a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer.

Peskov also confirmed that Artem and Anna Dultsev, who were released from Slovenia, were undercover intelligence officers. They had been operating under false identities in Ljubljana since 2017 before their arrest on espionage charges in 2022.

Yashin expressed difficulty accepting that his release came at the expense of freeing a murderer and noted the ongoing plight of other Russians imprisoned in similar conditions. Despite the complexities of their situation, both Yashin and Kara-Murza committed to continuing their opposition to Putin’s regime.

Kara-Murza stressed the need to address the plight of the hundreds of political prisoners still in Russia, while the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial reported that 766 individuals it considers political prisoners remain behind bars in Russia.

Supporters and family members of those released were caught by surprise. Tatyana Usmanova, wife of Andre Pivovarov, suspected a possible exchange when she noticed other prisoners missing from their facilities but felt assured only when she received confirmation from him.

Artist Sasha Skochilenko, convicted of anti-war protest, also unexpectedly disappeared from a detention center in St. Petersburg before reappearing in Turkey as part of the swap. Her partner, Sophya Subbotina, initially unaware of the exchange, was relieved when Skochilenko contacted her from Ankara.

Oleg Orlov, co-chair of the human rights group Memorial and also released, recounted that he was not informed of the swap or asked for consent before his transfer, learning of the exchange only when he was on his way to the airport.