Americans released in prisoner swap with Russia are back on U.S. soil, welcomed by Biden and Harris

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were freed Thursday as part of a massive prisoner swap that involved Russia, the U.S. and several European countries.

At 11:37 p.m. Eastern time, a plane carrying Gershkovich, Whelan and radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva touched down at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where they were greeted by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden and Harris spoke briefly with members of the news media, with the president saying the experience felt “wonderful” and was a result of alliances with other world leaders who “stepped up” for the United States.

“This is an incredible day,” Harris said.

Under the deal — one of the most significant prisoner exchanges between Russia and the West since the Cold War and negotiated by nations bitterly divided by Russia’s war in Ukraine — 16 prisoners sought by the West were freed in exchange for eight Russians held in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland.

Those released by Russia were three American citizens — Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva — along with U.S. permanent resident and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, five German citizens and seven Russian dissidents, according to national security advisor Jake Sullivan. All were considered “wrongfully detained” or, in the case of the Russians who were being held by Russia, political prisoners, he said.

Also waiting on the tarmac Thursday night were the families of the three freed Americans.

Whelan was the first to descend the stairs, where he was met by Biden with an outstretched hand. Gershkovich followed, with an initial embrace by Harris before shaking hands with the president and moving on to his family — lifting his mom off the ground in a bear hug.

Kurmasheva was the last to descend, and after hugging Biden and shaking hands with Harris, she was engulfed by her two daughters and husband in a family-sized hug.

The Biden administration said Gershkovich and the other detained Americans disembarked from Russian aircraft in Turkey’s capital, Ankara. The plane took off from Ankara around 8 p.m. local time, roughly 10 hours before it landed in Maryland.

“The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy,” Biden said in a White House address earlier in the day, surrounded by the loved ones of the returning prisoners.

“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years,” Biden said. “All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over…. Soon, they’ll be wheels up, on their way home to see their family.”

Sullivan called the negotiations “one of the largest and certainly one of the most complex exchanges in history.”

Speaking at a White House news briefing, Sullivan said that he was with Biden on Thursday morning when word came from Ankara that the exchange was complete and that the president spoke directly from the Oval Office with the prisoners and some of their relatives.

Typically a reserved, unemotional figure, Sullivan choked up as he noted the time he had spent over the years talking to the prisoners’ families.

“As you can imagine, those are tough conversations, but not today,” he said. “Today — excuse me,” he said, taking a deep breath and putting his hand to his chest. “Today was a very good day.”

The exchange represented a hard-won diplomatic achievement for Biden, who has long committed to bringing home wrongfully convicted Americans. But the deal was also critiqued for its striking imbalance.

Those being released by Russia were largely regarded by the West as innocent people unjustly detained by Moscow for political reasons. They included American journalists and peaceful Russian political dissidents. Those being released by the West, by contrast, included a notorious convicted Russian assassin, alleged spies and a suspected malicious computer hacker.

Administration officials rejected the idea that the deal will encourage further hostage-taking by countries or groups hoping to blackmail Washington or other governments to secure concessions. Sullivan said American citizens have been taken hostage both during periods when the U.S. refused any sort of negotiation or swap and when it did make deals.

Among the Russians released was Vadim Krasikov, an assassin serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 murder in central Berlin of a Chechen militant.

Germany required much persuasion to release Krasikov. When the Biden administration started attempting to secure Whelan’s freedom shortly after taking office, Russia insisted on the release of Krasikov. But Germany adamantly refused to release someone it considered to be such a brazen offender.

The negotiations took on added urgency after the arrest last year of Gershkovich and the death in prison of leading Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken began suggesting widening the population to include potential swaps the Germans would be interested in, according to a U.S. official familiar with the talks. Blinken brought up the idea with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, at a meeting of the Group of 7 leading industrialized nations last year, the official said. Finally, Biden appealed personally to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who relented. Germany is receiving five of its citizens in the swap.

Sullivan took pains to credit the president: “This was vintage Joe Biden,” he said. “Rallying American allies to save American citizens and Russian freedom fighters.”

He also mentioned Vice President Harris, noting she engaged face-to-face with Scholz on the issue of prisoners this year at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Short video clips released by Russian state news agencies Thursday showed Gershkovich in a bus, then on a plane, rubbing the back of his head and smiling.

The 32-year-old reporter was arrested in March 2023 by Russian security forces and accused of being a spy when he was on a reporting assignment to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, Russia’s main spy agency, alleged that he was acting on U.S. orders to gather state secrets — charges that he, the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government rejected as false.

In this image made from video provided by Russia’s Federal Security Service, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted by a Russian agent as they arrive at an airport outside Moscow on Thursday.

(Russian Federal Security Service / RTR via AP)

Nearly two weeks ago, Gershkovich was convicted of espionage in a trial the U.S. government denounced as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security penal colony.

Whelan, a U.S. citizen, was detained in 2018 on espionage charges after traveling to Moscow for a fellow Marine’s wedding. The corporate security director from Michigan was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The prisoner exchange also involved the release of Kurmasheva, a Russian American editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She was detained in October while visiting her elderly mother, and last month, Russia sentenced her to 6½ years in prison after accusing her of spreading false information about the Russian army.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian activist, politician and opinion columnist for the Washington Post, was convicted of treason in April 2023 for condemning Moscow’s war in Ukraine. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Biden said his work to free the hostages began before he took office in January 2021. During his transition to the White House, he said, he instructed the national security team to dig into all cases of hostages being wrongfully detained.

“As of today, my administration brought home over 70 Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad, many since before I took office,” Biden said.

In a pointed jab against Republicans who push for greater U.S. isolationism, Biden said the exchange would not have been possible without allies: Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey.

“They stood with us, and they made bold and brave decisions,” he said. “So, for anyone who questions whether allies matter, they do. Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world. Friends you can trust, work with and depend upon, especially on matters of great consequence and sensitivity like this. Our alliances make our people safer.”

Gershkovich, who was based at the Wall Street Journal’s bureau in Moscow at the time of his arrest, was the subject of an extensive “Free Evan” campaign. The Journal sold #IStandWithEvan T-shirts and put a ticker on its website indicating how many days, hours and minutes Gershkovich had been detained. On Thursday morning, the clock kept ticking at 491 days before it was replaced by a banner headline about the swap.

Planes believed to be carrying prisoners from Russia arrive at the airport in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday.

(Associated Press)

After Gershkovich’s conviction last month, Biden said the reporter had “committed no crime” and “was targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American.”

“There is no question that Russia is wrongfully detaining Evan,” Biden said in a statement. “Evan has endured his ordeal with remarkable strength. We will not cease in our efforts to bring him home.”

The deal marked the first high-level prisoner exchange between Russia and the U.S. since December 2022, when WNBA star Brittney Griner was released in return for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Amid the celebration Thursday, the family of Pittsburgh teacher Marc Fogel, who was detained in Russia in 2021, questioned why he was not part of the release.

Fogel was charged with smuggling drugs; the U.S. has not designated him as “wrongfully detained” and he is serving a 14-year sentence.

“We are completely heartbroken and outraged that Marc has been left behind while the U.S. government brought other Americans home,” the family said in a statement.

The family accused the U.S. government of “stonewalling, double standards, and — today — abandoning Marc to die in prison for less than an ounce of medical marijuana prescribed to manage his severe decades-long spinal disease.” They demanded that Biden, Blinken and other administration officials say Fogel’s name, “designate him as wrongfully detained, and bring him home.”

Speaking at the the White House, Sullivan said the administration was “actively working” to secure Fogel’s release, along with Americans held in Syria, Afghanistan and other countries around the globe.

Blinken also reassured the families of those still wrongfully detained that the Biden administration would not forget them.

“My pledge to the families of those still separated from their families is the same that I made to those returning home today,” he said. “We will not forget you, and we will not rest until you see your loved ones again.”

Times staff writer Susanne Rust contributed to this report.