Journalist Evan Gershkovich hugs his mother, Ella Millman, as President Joe Biden (right) in Maryland after their release in a prisoner exchange of 24 people between Russia and the United States on Thursday Andrews Air Force Base in the state watched them.
Manuel Balce Seneta/Associated Press
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Manuel Balce Seneta/Associated Press
wall street journal Journalist Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan arrived in the United States late Thursday following a historic prisoner swap with Russia.
Whelan was first off the plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, followed by Gershkovich and Arsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist who works for the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe. The three shook hands and hugged President Biden and Vice President Harris and hugged their families as onlookers cheered.
They were among a dozen prisoners released by Russia in exchange for Russian prisoners held in the United States and various European countries, U.S. officials said Thursday.
A total of 16 political prisoners, journalists and others, including five Germans, were exchanged for eight Russians imprisoned in the United States, Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland. These Russians include Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian state assassin and detained by Germany, as well as three other Russians in U.S. custody.
The prisoner exchange is one of the largest between the United States and its allies and Russia since the end of the Cold War.
“There has not been an exchange of personnel of similar magnitude in this manner since the Cold War,” said U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, adding that the exchange was “the result of multiple rounds of complex, difficult negotiations over many months.” ”.
Previously, Biden said the agreement was a “diplomatic feat” and thanked allies for working with the United States.
“This is a powerful example of why having friends you can trust and rely on in this world is critical,” he said in a statement.
Sullivan said Biden will build on success by working to free Mark Fogel, a U.S. citizen who remains imprisoned in Russia, as well as other Americans held in custody in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Gershkovich was arrested in Moscow in March 2023, becoming the first American journalist to be accused of espionage since the Cold War. Last month, a Russian court sentenced him to 16 years in prison after Russian prosecutors accused him of collaborating with the CIA to collect information on a Russian arms company. The accusations have been strenuously denied by Gershkovic, his employer and the U.S. government, which believes Gershkovic was wrongfully detained.
Whelan, a Marine Corps veteran with U.S., British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was arrested in Russia in December 2018 on espionage charges, which he vehemently denied. In June 2020, a Moscow court sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
Whelan’s case began to receive widespread attention as part of a failed U.S. proposal to bring him home, along with WNBA player Brittany Griner. He served 293 days in prison. Greener returned to the United States in December 2022 but continued to advocate for Whelan’s release.
“We are extremely happy and relieved that four American citizens were safely returned to the United States today,” Griner and her wife, Cherel, said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris administration has once again demonstrated true leadership. Leadership, whatever it takes to bring Americans home, every American comes back a victory.
This is a development story.
NPR’s Rob Schmitz, Nick Spicer and Michele Keleman contributed to this report.
