Washington, 1 August 2024 (TDI): Three Americans including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who were freed in a prisoner swap agreement with Russia, have arrived back on US soil.
Mr Gershkovich, 32, was one of sixteen prisoners swapped for eight Russian prisoners in what has been termed as the biggest exchange since the end of the Cold War between Russia and the West.
The exchange at an airfield in Turkiye also included the release of ex-US marine Paul Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
After touching down at Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland, Gershkovich, Whelan, and Kurmasheva emerged from the jet to cheers from those on the tarmac.
All three were warmly greeted by US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris – before each ran to their families to embrace.
They lingered on the tarmac for photos and conversations before leaving the air base within an hour, as did Biden and Harris’s motorcades.
Speaking ahead of their return, Biden welcomed their release, saying the brutal ordeal is over.
He commended the role played by America’s allies, especially Germany and Slovenia, and hailed the release of Whelan, Kurmasheva, Gershkovich, as well as leading Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza as a “feat of diplomacy”.
The three released US citizens will be transported to the Brooke Army Medical Centre in Texas for a medical check-up.
The agreement had been more than eighteen months in the making and appears to have hinged on Russia’s demand for the return of Vadim Krasikov – who was serving a life prison in Germany for carrying out an assassination in a Berlin park.
He is now back in Russia.
In total, twenty-four people from prisons in seven different countries were exchanged in Ankara, according to Turkiye presidency.
The prisoners were from the US, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Germany, Russia, and Belarus, it said in a statement.
Ten people, including two children, were relocated to Russia, thirteen prisoners to Germany, and three to the US, the statement added.
