Biden, Harris welcome home Americans released in Russia prisoner swap

Washington —  President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted three Americans released by Russia in a complex prisoner swap involving 24 people being held in six countries when they arrived on U.S. soil late Thursday. 

A plane carrying Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after they were freed as part of the swap that also involved Germany, Slovenia, Poland and Norway. 

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a U.S. green card holder and Kremlin critic, was also released, but opted to go to Germany, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. 

As part of the deal, Russia released 16 prisoners while the Western countries released eight Russians. The prisoners were traded on a tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, earlier Thursday.

A plane took the three freed Americans, some of their family members and State Department personnel from Joint Base Andrews to Joint Base San Antonio early Friday. A U.S. government official said the three would head to Brooke Army Medical Center for evaluations and any care they need.

At the base in San Antonio, Whelan said his being free didn’t seem real “until we were flying over England.” He showed reporters a lapel pin he said President Biden took off and gave him at Joint Base Andrews.

Whelan was the first to emerge from the plane at Joint Base Andrews, followed by Gershkovich and then Kurmasheva. All three appeared to exchange warm greetings with the president and vice president on the tarmac before being welcomed by their families and friends with hugs and applause. 

Along with family members of the detained Americans, about a dozen Wall Street Journal employees gathered on the tarmac to welcome home their colleague.

“The toughest call on this one was for other countries, because I asked them to do some things that were against their immediate self-interest,” Mr. Biden told reporters on the tarmac. “And it was very difficult for them to do, particularly Germany and Slovenia. Slovenia came in at the last minute, and I tell you what, the (German) chancellor was incredible.”

Harris also praised Mr. Biden to reporters, calling the swap “an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy.”

“This is an incredible day, I can see it in the families, in their eyes and in their cries,” she added. 

In remarks from the White House earlier in the day, Mr. Biden said the United States’ relationships with its allies were “vital” to securing the prisoners’ freedom after months of difficult negotiations. 

“Now, their brutal ordeal is over and they’re free,” he said, standing alongside their families. 

Whelan and Gershkovich were imprisoned in Russia on spying allegations that their families and the U.S. have vehemently rejected. The U.S. considered both to be wrongfully detained. 

Kurmasheva was arrested in June 2023 on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military.  

Whelan was not included in two prior prisoner swaps involving Americans Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner, both of whom were detained after his arrest in 2018. The U.S. said it pushed for his inclusion in both exchanges, but Russia refused. It led to Whelan lobbying for his own release from a remote prison camp, calling government officials and journalists to make sure that he wasn’t forgotten. 

Whelan and his family feared that Gershkovich’s arrest in March 2023 would complicate securing his release and he could be left behind a third time. 

In mid-July, hesitant to reveal details about where possible negotiations with Russia stood, Roger Carstens, the nation’s chief hostage diplomat, said the U.S. was intent on bringing both Gershkovich and Whelan home. 

“I know Evan and Paul will come home to the United States and step onto U.S. soil. I just don’t know when,” he said during an interview at the Aspen Security Forum on July 17. 

Two weeks later, a U.S. government plane carrying the two men and Kurmasheva landed in Maryland.