In one of the largest prisoner swaps between the United States, its allies and Russia since the end of the Cold War, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan are among more than a dozen prisoners released by Russia in exchange for Russian prisoners held by the United States and countries throughout Europe, U.S. officials said Thursday.
In all, under the deal, 16 political prisoners, journalists and others, including five Germans, are being exchanged for eight Russians jailed in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland. Among the Russians is Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian state assassin in German custody, as well as three other Russians in U.S. custody.
President Biden said the swap deal was “a feat of diplomacy” and thanked allies who worked with the United States on the deal. “This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend on,” he said in a statement.
“Not since the Cold War has there been a similar number of individuals exchanged in this way,” said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, adding the exchange was the “culmination of many rounds of complex painstaking negotiations over many, many months.” Later on Thursday, Sullivan said President Biden would seek to build on the success to try to free Marc Fogel, a U.S. citizen still held in Russia, and other Americans held in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Those returning to the U.S. from Russia include Gershkovich, Whelan, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe, and Russian journalist and dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, a U.S. permanent resident.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed appreciation to the Turkish government for "providing a location for the safe return of these individuals to the United States and Germany."
The Turkish government said in a statement that it had played a key role and “conducted the most extensive prisoner exchange operation of recent times in Ankara,” involving not only Whelan and Gershkovich, but also Rico Krieger, whom it identified as a German mercenary imprisoned in Belarus; Russian dissident Ilya Yashin; and Vadim Krasikov, whom it identified as a colonel in the FSB, Russia’s internal security service.
The statement said the operation was conducted by MIT, the Turkish intelligence service.
Gershkovich was arrested in Moscow in March 2023 and became the first U.S. journalist since the Cold War to be charged with espionage. Last month, a Russian court sentenced him to 16 years in prison, after he was accused by the Russian prosecutor of working with the CIA to collect information on a Russian arms company. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government strenuously denied the allegations, and the U.S. considered Gershkovich wrongfully detained.
In a statement, Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker said, "We can finally say, in unison, 'Welcome home, Evan.'”
Whelan, a Marine Corps veteran who holds U.S., British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was arrested in Russia in December 2018 on charges of espionage he strongly denied. On June 15, 2020, a Moscow court sentenced Whelan to 16 years in prison.
In a statement on Thursday, his family said: "Paul was held hostage for 2,043 days. His case was that of an American in peril, held by the Russian Federation as part of their blighted initiative to use humans as pawns to extract concessions ... While Paul was wrongfully imprisoned in Russia, he lost his home. He lost his job. We are unsure how someone overcomes these losses and rejoins society after being a hostage. We are grateful for everyone’s efforts to help Paul while he was away. We hope you will continue to help him by providing Paul the space and privacy he needs as he rebuilds his life. It is Paul's story to tell and he will tell it when he is able."
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy welcomed the release of Whelan and Kara-Murza, both of whom are British nationals. “Mr Kara-Murza is a dedicated opponent of Putin’s regime," Lammy said in a statement. "He should never have been in prison in the first place: the Russian authorities imprisoned him in life-threatening conditions because he courageously told the truth about the war in Ukraine."
Stephen Capus, the president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Alsu Kurmasheva's employer, said in a statement: "Alsu was targeted because she was an American journalist who was simply trying to take care of a family member inside Russia. She did nothing wrong and certainly did not deserve the unjust treatment and forced separation from her loving family members and colleagues. Alsu’s release makes us even more determined to secure the freedom of three other RFE/RL journalists, cruelly imprisoned in Belarus and Russian-occupied Crimea. We will not rest until all our unjustly detained journalists are home safe. Journalism is not a crime."
Kurmasheva's husband, Pavel Butorin, told NPR Thursday was "the happiest day of our lives."
Jodie Ginsberg, the CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Kurmasheva and Gershkovich "were detained and sentenced on spurious charges intended to punish them for their journalism and stifle independent reporting. Their release is welcome — but it does not change the fact that Russia continues to suppress a free press.”
Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in some of the behind-the-scenes international diplomatic talks to reach the hostage release deal, a White House official told NPR. Harris met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to try to advance negotiations, the official said. Harris raised the issue of Vadim Krasikov, who had been convicted in Germany — a prisoner viewed as critical to making a swap for American prisoners. Also in Munich, Harris met with Slovenia's Prime Minister Robert Golob and raised the issue of two Russian nationals being held in a Slovenian prison.
President Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the president spoke to the freed prisoners while they were on the tarmac in Ankara, where they were waiting on Thursday to board their flight back. He said both Biden and Vice President Harris would be present at Joint Base Andrews Thursday night, when a plane is due to land with Whelan, Gershkovich and Kurmasheva.
Kurmasheva's two daughters "have shown incredible courage" during her detention, her husband told NPR. "They have actually become the best advocates for the free Alsu cause. And not only will Alsu find that they have grown taller, but you'll also find two young women who are more mature, more resolute about their own rights to free speech and expression as Americans. And it's largely thanks to them, to my daughters, that her family has withstood this ordeal."
NPR's Deepa Shivaram contributed to this report.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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