American journalist Evan Gershovitch and a Russian intelligence colonel jailed for an assassination in Berlin were among two dozen prisoners freed Thursday in the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.
The complex multinational deal that freed the Wall Street Journal reporter and others, including former US Marine Paul Whelan, involved months of secret negotiations and finally ended with a dramatic exchange on the tarmac of the airport in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Overjoyed family members appeared at the White House with US President Joe Biden, who said they had managed to call their freed loved ones from the Oval Office.
“Their ordeal is over,” Biden said at a press conference.
Biden called the leaders of allies Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Norway to thank them for agreeing to release Russian prisoners as part of the deal and Turkey for agreeing to host the handover.
They “made bold and brave decisions” to release Russians held for espionage and other crimes in exchange for Western and Russian dissidents and human rights activists, he said.
In total, 10 Russians — including two minors — were exchanged for 16 Westerners and Russians imprisoned in Russia, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
Among those who returned to Moscow was Vadim Krashikov, a Russian intelligence agent jailed in Germany for killing a former Chechen rebel commander in a brazen assassination.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the “difficult” exchange had “saved lives”.
“The Biggest Hug”
President Vladimir Putin welcomed Russian prisoners at Moscow airport, hugging them as they disembarked from their plane, television images showed.
“I want to congratulate you on your return to the motherland,” Putin said.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, were scheduled to greet freed American prisoners outside Washington later in the day.
The Wall Street Journal said it was “overwhelmed with relief” at the release of Gershkovich, 32, who was detained in Russia in March 2023 on a reporting trip and sentenced in July to 16 years in prison on espionage charges brought by the United States. .
“We can’t wait to give him the biggest hug and see his sweet and brave smile up close,” Gerskovich’s family said in a statement.
Biden later posted a photo of a smiling Gerskovich and other detainees on a plane.
The group also included Whelan, who was detained in 2018 and has previously complained of being abandoned by Washington, and another American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a US-based Russian critic of the Kremlin, was also among those released.
Biden, who has enjoyed a major diplomatic success in his last six months in office after ending his re-election bid, described their convictions in Russia as “show trials”.
Speculation of a deal swirled for days after several inmates disappeared from the prison system, but there was no confirmation until they finally changed planes in Ankara.
“We’re holding our breath and crossing our fingers,” said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
“Pawns”
The White House has led months of backroom negotiations with Russia despite tensions over Ukraine — but has also had to lean on European allies reluctant to hand over convicted criminals back to Moscow.
Biden even called Slovenia’s prime minister an hour before his July 21 election to push for the release of two Russians.
A total of 12 prisoners released by Russia will go to Germany, including opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who was jailed for criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
They also include Rico Krieger, a German who was sentenced to death in Belarus on espionage charges before a reprieve this week.
The exchange was the first between Russia and the West since US basketball star Brittney Griner was returned home in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December 2022.
It was the largest since 2010, when 14 alleged spies were exchanged. Among them were the double agent Sergei Skripal, who was sent from Moscow to Britain and the secret Russian agent Anna Chapman, who was sent from Washington to Russia.
Before then, major exchanges involving more than a dozen people had only taken place during the Cold War, with Soviet and Western powers carrying out exchanges in 1985 and 1986.
The White House revealed an even more ambitious deal was on the cards with efforts to negotiate the release of Putin’s rival Alexei Navalny, before he died in February this year.
Despite the rare moment of cooperation, Biden said he did not “need to talk” with the Kremlin leader.
Media rights group Reporters Without Borders said it was a “huge relief”, while Amnesty International said the exchange showed Putin was using “political prisoners as pawns”.
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