American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan returned to the United States on Thursday, hours after being released from Russian detention in the largest prisoner exchange between the two countries since the Cold War.
The White House said it negotiated the deal with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The agreement, which was carried out in secret for more than a year, included 24 prisoners — 16 of them transferred from Russia to the West and eight sent back to Russia from the West.
Among them was Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted of murdering a dissident exiled in Berlin, the German government said.
US President Joe Biden hailed the deal as “a feat of diplomacy and friendship” and praised Washington's allies for their “bold and courageous decisions.”
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, buoyed by the occasion, greeted freed Americans Gershkovich, Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, as well as Russian dissident and U.S. resident Vladimir Kara-Murza, when they arrived at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, shortly before midnight.
The president removed his lapel and handed it to Whelan as he stepped off the Bombardier Global 7500 plane.
The deal hands the Biden-Harris administration a major diplomatic success with the presidential campaign, which will pit Harris against former Republican President Donald Trump, just three months away.
Harris, who is tipped to be the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the race last month, praised his leadership for organizing the complex prisoner exchange, telling reporters on the tarmac it was a testament to American leadership.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met the prisoners returning to Russia upon their arrival in Moscow and told them they would be awarded state decorations.
The exchange also represents a victory for Putin, who had indicated he wanted Krasikov back. His homeland “has not forgotten him for a moment,” he told the returnees.
Krasikov is a colonel in the Russian security service FSB who was serving a life sentence for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.
