Prisoner swaps with Russia. Should a line be drawn?

[donkmeister]

Reading the news about a Russian-born US citizen being sent to the Gulag, all for a $50 donation to Ukraine in 2022. She was arrested after travelling to Russia in January 2024, when it was already well-established that this is an absurdly stupid idea.

I too have family in other countries so sympathise with the desire to see relatives in person, but should Western governments announce "If you travel to Russia (and Belarus, NK etc) and get arrested, you are on your own. No deals."? Sooner or later she'll be exchanged for a seriously nasty piece of work in one of our prisons who has not yet served their sentence for murder. All because she fancied seeing her folks in person instead of using one of the many and free video calling solutions available.