U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan returned to the U.S. on Thursday, marking the largest prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia since the Cold War.
The White House confirmed that the deal, brokered in secret for over a year, involved Russia, Germany, and three other nations.
The exchange involved 24 prisoners – 16 from Russia to the West and 8 from the West to Russia. Among those released was Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murdering an exiled dissident in Berlin, according to the German government.
U.S. President Joe Biden hailed the deal as "a feat of diplomacy and friendship" and praised Washington's allies for their "bold and brave decisions."
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted the freed Americans – Gershkovich, Whelan, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and Russian-British dissident and U.S. resident Vladimir Kara-Murza – as they arrived at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, shortly before midnight (4 a.m. GMT).
Russian President Vladimir Putin met the returning prisoners in Moscow, saying they would receive state awards.
"Today is a powerful example of why it's vital to have friends in this world," Biden said earlier at the White House, flanked by relatives of the freed prisoners.
Biden expressed gratitude to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who made the politically difficult choice to release Krasikov.
The deal represents a significant diplomatic success for the Biden administration as the U.S. presidential campaign, featuring Harris against Republican former President Donald Trump, enters its final months.
However, the multicountry deal appears to be a one-time exchange that does not reset the antagonistic U.S.-Russia relationship.
U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said U.S.-Russia ties remain "in a very difficult place" despite the prisoner swap. "There was no trust involved in this relationship or negotiation," Finer told CNN.
Critics argue that the release of Russians convicted of serious crimes could 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," said Michael McCaul, Republican chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Trump, who said he did not have details of the swap, questioned whether "murderers, killers, or thugs" were released. "Just curious because we never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps," the presidential nominee said on social media.
Also involved in the deal were Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus. Türkiye coordinated the exchange.
The Kremlin said in a statement that its decision to pardon and free prisoners "was made to return Russian citizens detained and imprisoned in foreign countries."
The last major exchange between the U.S. and Russia, in 2010, involved 14 prisoners. The two countries had a high-profile exchange in December 2022, swapping U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, 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.
The release of Russians convicted in the West represented a victory for Putin, who had indicated he wanted Krasikov back. "Your homeland had not forgotten you for a moment," he told them at the airport.
Krasikov is a colonel in the Russian FSB security service who was serving a life sentence for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.
Among the Westerners freed, Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal journalist, had been accused of collecting sensitive military information for the CIA, a charge he and the newspaper denied.
The White House posted an emotional two-minute video of the moment the families of the U.S.-bound detainees spoke 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 X.
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 6½ years in prison on July 19, the same day as Gershkovich, and Kara-Murza, who was serving 25 years for treason after criticizing Putin's bombing of Ukrainian homes, hospitals, and schools.
Among those released were human rights activist Oleg Orlov and Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin.
In the West, dissidents are seen by governments and activists as wrongfully detained political prisoners. All have, for different reasons, been designated by Moscow as dangerous extremists.
Many of those freed had worked with Alexei Navalny, Russia's leading opposition figure who died under unclear circumstances in an Arctic penal colony in February. Before his death, Navalny was meant to be part of the exchange, said Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
The exchange comes in the waning months of Biden's term, which has seen sharp increases in tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Biden announced last month that he was abandoning his reelection bid.
A Slovenian court on Wednesday sentenced two Russians to time served for espionage and using fake identities and said they would be deported. Both were among those returned to Russia, according to an official U.S. list.
Also returned to Russia and released from the U.S. were Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin – both convicted of cybercrimes – and Vadim Konoshchenok.
Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker posted an open letter on X, calling it a "joyous day."
