Three US citizens, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, have returned to the United States after being released from Russian custody in a prisoner exchange.
The exchange, which took place in Turkey, involved the release of 16 individuals, including Gershkovich, former US marine Paul Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, in exchange for eight Russian prisoners.
Upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, the three individuals were greeted by US President Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris, and their families.
President Biden praised the role of US allies in facilitating the release and described the event as a “feat of diplomacy.” The released individuals will undergo medical evaluations at the Brooke Army Medical Centre in Texas.
The deal had been more than 18 months in the making and appears to have hinged on Moscow’s demand for the return of Vadim Krasikov – who was serving a life sentence in Germany for carrying out an assassination in a Berlin park.
He is now back in Russia.
In total, 24 people from prisons in seven different countries were exchanged in Ankara, Turkey’s presidency said.
The prisoners were from the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus, it said in a statement.
Ten people, including two minors, were relocated to Russia, 13 prisoners to Germany, and three to the US, the statement added.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin personally greeted the released Russians with bouquets of flowers at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport.
He embraced them warmly on a red carpet and said they would be given state awards.
Among those returned to Moscow in addition to Krasikov was a Russian couple, convicted of spying in Slovenia, who returned to Russia with their two children.
Both Nato and the European Union welcomed the release which it said was mediated by Turkey.
