Three Americans, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, have returned to the US following a major prisoner swap with Russia.
Gershkovich, along with former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, were freed in exchange for 16 prisoners, marking the largest swap since the Cold War.
The exchange took place at an airfield in Turkey and saw the return of Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for a Berlin park assassination.
The swap involved a total of 26 prisoners from the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted the returning Americans at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
Biden praised the diplomatic efforts, particularly by Germany and Slovenia, and emphasized the end of the “brutal ordeal” for those released.
The released Americans will undergo medical evaluations at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas.
This swap also saw other individuals, including a German citizen previously sentenced to death in Belarus, returning to their home countries.
Notably, discussions had included jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but those talks fell through after his death earlier this year.
Chioma Kalu
Follow us on:
