Four U.S. residents wrongly imprisoned in Russia — including journalist Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan — were released Thursday, part of a major multinational prisoner exchange the likes of which has not been seen since the Cold War.
The massive deal, cut among seven nations, involves 24 people, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens held in Russia, and eight Russians imprisoned in the U.S., Germany, Slovenia, Norway and Poland.
President Joe Biden called the deal that had led to the release of the four U.S. detainees a “feat of diplomacy and friendship.”
The exchange took place in Turkey, and a plane carrying U.S. citizens Gershkovich, Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva touched down at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at 11:38 p.m.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted all three Americans on the tarmac, and each then hugged friends and family to applause. Biden said he told each, “welcome home,” and more.
“There’s nothing beyond our capacity when we act together,” Biden told reporters when asked if he had a message for America. “We’re the United States of America.”
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a legal permanent U.S. resident, had planned to go Germany, where his family was set to meet him, but is expected to return to the U.S. soon, the administration said.
“Now, their brutal ordeal is over and they’re free,” Biden said in a televised address from the White House earlier Thursday as he stood alongside family members of those freed. “This is an incredible relief for all the family members gathered here. It’s relief to the friends and colleagues all across the country who have been praying for this day for a long time.”
