U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan returned to the United States on Thursday after being released from Russian detention in the largest prisoner exchange between the two nations since the Cold War.
The White House announced it had negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany, and three other countries. The deal, which had been in secret negotiations for over a year, involved 24 prisoners – 16 moved from Russia to the West and eight sent back to Russia from the West. Among those exchanged was Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murdering an exiled dissident in Berlin, according to the German government.
U.S. President Joe Biden praised the deal as “a feat of diplomacy and friendship” and commended Washington’s allies for their “bold and brave decisions.”
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, visibly pleased, welcomed the freed Americans Gershkovich, Whelan, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and Russian dissident and U.S. resident Vladimir Kara-Murza at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, just before midnight (0400 GMT). The president removed his lapel pin and gave it to Whelan as he disembarked from the Bombardier Global 7500 aircraft.
This diplomatic success provides a significant achievement for the Biden-Harris administration as the presidential campaign approaches, with Harris facing Republican former President Donald Trump in just under three months.
Harris, poised to be the Democratic nominee after Biden withdrew from the race last month, praised his leadership for orchestrating the complex prisoner swap, describing it as a testament to American leadership.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted the prisoners returning to Russia in Moscow, stating they would receive state awards. The exchange marks a victory for Putin, who had expressed a desire for Krasikov’s return. He assured the returnees, “their homeland had not forgotten you for a moment.” Krasikov, a colonel in the Russian FSB security service, was serving a life sentence for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.
CRITICS FEAR ‘DANGEROUS MESSAGE’
The multi-nation deal seems to be a unique exchange and does not signify a reset in the strained U.S.-Russia relationship, which has worsened since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said Washington-Moscow ties remain “in a very difficult place” despite the swap. “There was no trust involved in this relationship or negotiation,” Finer told CNN.
Critics argue that releasing Russians convicted of serious crimes might encourage more hostage-taking by U.S. adversaries.
“I remain concerned that continuing to trade innocent Americans for actual Russian criminals held in the U.S. and elsewhere sends a dangerous message to Putin that only encourages further hostage-taking by his regime,” stated Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Trump, unaware of the swap details, questioned if “murderers, killers, or thugs” were released, expressing skepticism about the U.S.’s ability to make good deals, especially in hostage swaps.
The deal also involved Belarus, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, with Turkey coordinating the exchange.
The Kremlin stated that its decision to pardon and release prisoners “was made with the aim of returning Russian citizens detained and imprisoned in foreign countries.”
The last significant exchange between the U.S. and Russia occurred in 2010, involving 14 prisoners.
A high-profile exchange took place in December 2022, swapping U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years for vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, for arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence.
EMOTIONAL REUNIONS
In the West, dissidents are viewed by governments and activists as wrongfully detained political prisoners. They have been designated by Moscow as dangerous extremists for various reasons.
Among those freed, Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was accused of collecting sensitive military information for the CIA, a charge he and the newspaper denied.The White House shared an emotional video of the detainees’ families speaking to their loved ones by phone from the Oval Office.
“This is Momma. Do you hear me? It’s your mom,” Gershkovich’s mother tells her son in the clip, posted on Biden’s social media account on the X platform.
Later, Gershkovich lifted his mother in the air as they met on the tarmac, surrounded by cheering family members. Whelan, the former Marine, was serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on espionage charges that he denied. Rico Krieger, a German, had been sentenced to death in Belarus on terrorism charges. He was pardoned by President Alexander Lukashenko, a close Putin ally, before being freed.
Also released were Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison on July 19, the same day as Gershkovich, and Kara-Murza, who was serving 25 years for treason after criticizing Putin for bombing Ukrainian homes, hospitals, and schools. Human rights activist Oleg Orlov and Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin were also freed.
Many of those released had connections with Alexei Navalny, Russia’s leading opposition figure who died under unclear circumstances in an Arctic penal colony in February.Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, mentioned that Navalny was originally meant to be part of the exchange.
On Wednesday, a Slovenian court sentenced two Russians to time served for espionage and using fake identities and announced their deportation. Both were among those returned to Russia, as per an official U.S. list.
Others returned to Russia included Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin, both convicted of cybercrimes, and Vadim Konoshchenok. Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker expressed her joy in an open letter on X, calling it a “joyous day.”