US-Russia prisoner swap: Journalist, 2 Americans among 24 freed

This photo combination shows Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, left, corporate security executive Paul Whelan, top right, and Russian opposition figure Ilya Yashin. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON — The United States and Russia completed a 24-person prisoner swap on Thursday, the largest in post-Soviet history, with Moscow releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free, according to officials in Turkey, where the exchange took place.

The Journal confirmed that Gershkovich had been freed.

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It’s the latest exchange between Washington and Moscow in the past two years, following a December 2022 trade that brought WNBA star Brittney Griner back to the U.S. in exchange for notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

Russia meanwhile secured the freedom of its own nationals convicted of serious crimes in the West.

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Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomes freed prisoners in Germany

Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed Germans and Russians freed in the prisoner swap to Germany and said he had “very moving” conversations with them.

Scholz said after they landed at Cologne/Bonn Airport late Thursday that “all arrived safe and sound” and they will undergo health checks in the coming days.

“Many did not expect this to happen now and are still full of the feelings that are connected with suddenly being free,” he said, adding that “many feared for their health and their lives.”

The 16 prisoners freed by Russia and Belarus included five German citizens, and the deal involved Germany deporting to Russia Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life prison sentence for what judges concluded was a Russian state-ordered killing in Berlin in 2019.

Scholz said: “I think this is the right decision. And if you had any doubts, then you lose them after speaking with those who are now free.”

The German leader said it was “a special moment for me, a moment that certainly has also very much intensified the friendship between the U.S and Germany.”

Gershkovich family says they ‘can’t wait to give him the biggest hug’

The family of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich says in a statement that they “can’t wait give him the biggest hug and see his sweet and brave face up close.”

The family says that no one should have to go through what they did and that it’s hard to describe what it feels like to have their son come home.

VP Harris applauds ‘incredible courage’ of formerly detained Americans

Vice President Harris told reporters that the newly released Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich and U.S. green card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza showed “incredible courage” after being “unjustly held in Russia.”

Harris said she also spoke on Thursday with Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Navalny died while imprisoned by the Russian government. As part of the swap, three people who worked with him were also released.

Harris told reporters before boarding her plane in Houston that she told Navalnaya, “The United States stands with all of those who are fighting for freedom in Russia.”

Newly freed Americans shown smiling in newly released White House photo

Three newly freed Americans are shown smiling widely in a photo made public after their release from Russian custody Thursday.

The photo, given to news outlets by the White House, shows Americans Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan in a plane following their release in a complex multinational prisoner exchange with Russia.

All three are smiling and appear far more relaxed than in a video released by Russian security services just hours earlier, where they were still being transferred into American hands.

The White House gave no details on the circumstances of the photo. It shows other unidentified people holding an American flag just behind them.

Trump calls American negotiators ‘an embarrassment’

Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, disparaging the Biden administration’s prisoner exchange with Russia on Thursday, calling American negotiators “an embarrassment.”

Trump asked in his post if the U.S. had paid cash for Thursday’s releases, something National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan specifically denied. He also asked if the U.S. was handing over “murderers, killers, or thugs?’ The Russians freed by Western countries as part of the deal, in fact, included a convicted hitman who had been imprisoned in Germany.

Trump prides himself on his success in brokering the release of Americans held by other nations. Thursday, it was President Joe Biden congratulating the families of newly freed Americans headed home, thanks to his administration’s successful negotiations.

“Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us!” Trump wrote. “They’re calling the trade ‘complex’ – That’s so nobody can figure out how bad it is!” he wrote.

Michel and von der Leyen welcome released prisoners, criticize Moscow

European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the released prisoners while criticizing Moscow.

“I welcome the release of 16 people unjustly jailed by the Russian regime,” Michel said on the social platform X. “Alsu, Evan, Paul, Vladimir and others, you belong home with your families and loved ones! I thank all those, also in Europe, who helped to make the diplomatic deal possible. EU will continue supporting and standing for all those illegally detained in Russia and elsewhere.”

Von der Leyen hailed “the release of innocent citizens from EU & US and upright Russian democrats held captive in Russia.”

She hit out at Russia, adding: “The Kremlin swapped them for convicted criminals and murderers. This shows the stark difference. This is a moment of great joy for all who have fought for their freedom.”

Putin greets ex-prisoners in Moscow

President Vladimir Putin met the returning ex-prisoners on the tarmac of Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport as they descended from their plane. Putin stood at the foot of the mobile stairs and briefly embraced each returnee.

The group then moved into the terminal, where Putin made brief remarks. “You will all be nominated for state awards. We will see each other again and talk about your future. Now, I want to congratulate you on your return to your homeland,” he said.

Biden thanks Turkish president for help in ‘smooth’ exchange

In a rare telephone conversation, President Joe Biden thanked Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his role in facilitating a “smooth” prisoner exchange, according to a statement from Erdogan’s office.

The Biden administration has kept a distance toward the Turkish leader and interactions between the two presidents have been infrequent.

The statement said the two also discussed U.S.-Turkish relations and the war in Gaza, with Erdogan telling Biden that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has shown “with every step” that it does not want a cease-fire.

German chancellor says the release of Krasikov was a ‘difficult decision’

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says the wide-ranging prisoner exchange between Russia and the West “in some cases saved the health and life” of the people who were freed.

Scholz interrupted his vacation to travel to Cologne/Bonn Airport, where he plans to greet released German and Russian citizens.

A central part of the swap was the release of Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for what judges concluded was a Russian state-ordered killing in Berlin in 2019. Scholz told reporters that the “difficult decision” was made by his coalition government “after careful consideration.” He said that “no one made this decision lightly to deport a murderer sentenced to life imprisonment after only a few years in detention.”

Scholz said it was important “that we have a duty of protection toward German citizens, as well as our solidarity with the U.S.”

He said that both he and German opposition leader Friedrich Merz agreed with the decision.

White House flies flag recognizing wrongfully detained Americans

It is the first time such a flag has been flown on the White House grounds.

The flag symbolizes other Americans who continue to be held hostage or are wrongfully detained abroad, according to the White House. It underscores the administration’s “enduring commitment to ensuring the safety and security of our fellow Americans, and our sacred vow to continue working tirelessly until every American is accounted for and returns safely back home.”

Putin called him a patriot. But who is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian released in the mass prisoner swap?

Vadim Krasikov, the Russian at the center of Thursday’s mass prisoner swap, has long topped the Kremlin’s list for an exchange. President Vladimir Putin hinted earlier this year that he was interested in such a trade to free a “patriot” held in Germany.

Now Krasikov, 58, is being released by Germany, where he has been imprisoned for murder. Krasikov was convicted for the Aug. 23, 2019, killing of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.

Khangoshvili was gunned down from behind near Kleiner Tiergarten, a central Berlin park, with a silencer-fitted handgun. Witnesses saw the gunman throw a bike, a gun and a dark wig into the Spree River nearby. Police arrested him before he could escape on an electric scooter.

At his sentencing to life in prison in 2021, German judges said Krasikov had acted on the orders of Russian authorities, who gave him a false identity, passport and the resources to carry out the killing.

Other East-West swaps

As a historic prisoner exchange unfolds, a look back at other famous East-West swaps

After years of isolation behind the bars and high walls of U.S. penitentiaries and Russian penal colonies, the prisoners will find themselves suddenly free, an emotional moment culminating from long, back-channel negotiations between Washington and Moscow.

Sometimes, they see those who are part of the swap as they pass each other on an airport tarmac or, as in the Cold War, the Glienicke Bridge connecting West Berlin to Potsdam. In decades of prisoner exchanges, those released have included spies, journalists, drug and arms dealers, and even a well-known athlete.

Thursday’s historic exchange was an especially complex affair involving months of talks among several countries before planes flew the large number of prisoners to freedom.