Three imprisoned American citizens and one American green-card holder have been released by Russia as part of a massive prisoner exchange deal involving multiple countries, President Joe Biden confirmed Thursday.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza are among those on their way home, Biden said in a statement.
“All told, we’ve negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia — including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” he said.
President Joe Biden stands with family of the freed prisoners while addressing the prisoner exchange with Russia at the White House on Thursday.
The prisoner exchange, described as the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War , took place at an airport in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday, and involved people from seven different countries, The New York Times reported .
Biden credited U.S. allies — particularly Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey ― for their assistance in the negotiations, saying they are “a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon.”
“Our alliances make Americans safer,” he added.
In all, the U.S. and its allies returned eight Russian nationals as part of the deal, including individuals with suspected ties to Russian intelligence, the BBC reported .
Evan Gershkovich (left) and Paul Whelan are seen at an airport on Thursday.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking at an afternoon press conference, credited numerous people working behind the scenes, and at Biden’s direction, for having “built and pulled off the most intricate and expansive deal of its kind in memory.” He said no money was exchanged or sanctions loosened as part of it.
“If you had not had Joe Biden sitting in the Oval Office, I don’t think this would have happened,” he said while emphasizing Biden’s diplomatic work with other countries. “But, as I said in my remarks, there were a lot of other people who played a central role in building up pieces of this and then executing on that.”
Sullivan said they had been working on a deal that would have included the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. His sudden death in a Russian prison in February upended that original plan, though Sullivan said he personally promised to Gershkovich’s parents that they would press on.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British national and journalist, was arrested on treason charges in 2022 after criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Going into more detail about the releases, Sullivan said the prisoners’ families were personally notified by Biden once Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva and Kara-Murza touched down in Turkey. Later, in a call with Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva, he welcomed their freedom and then turned the phone over to their family members. A second call took place between Biden and Kara-Murza, which also included his family.
“It was quite a moment,” Sullivan said of the scene at the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk.
Vice President Kamala Harris also played a critical role in the deal, having met with Germany’s chancellor to “help pave the way” and also with the prime minister of Slovenia, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the press conference.
“They were partners in this,” she said of Harris when asked by a reporter whether Harris ― who was in Houston delivering a eulogy Thursday for U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee ― had been deliberately left out when mentioning credit for the exchange.
Gershkovich is seen in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on July 19.
Those released include Gershkovich, who was convicted in July of espionage and sentenced to 16 years on charges that both the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government have rejected as meritless.
The 32-year-old was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg. He was accused of spying for the U.S., but Russian authorities did not offer any supporting evidence for the allegations. With his arrest, he became the first American journalist to be accused of espionage since the Cold War.
The Wall Street Journal had fiercely advocated for Gershkovich’s release, with public news campaigns that highlighted his work and the impact of his absence on his friends, family and colleagues. On the one-year anniversary of his detention, the paper published a largely blank front page with the headline “His Story Should Be Here.”
Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested for alleged spying in Moscow, is seen in 2019 in a Moscow courtroom.
Whelan, 54, was detained by Russia on espionage charges in 2018 and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was passed over in previous prisoner swaps, including those that secured the release of former Marine Trevor Reed and WNBA star Brittney Griner, to his family’s disappointment. In a message to reporters in June, however, David Whelan said his brother “seems to be keeping his wits about him.”
Kurmasheva, who’s a Russian-American radio journalist and U.S. citizen, was detained last October on allegations that she failed to register as a foreign agent while working as an editor for Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty.
Biden, during a press conference at the White House Thursday, led a rendition of Happy Birthday to Kurmasheva’s daughter, Miriam Butorin, who Biden said gets to celebrate her 13th birthday with her mother on Friday.
Biden embraces Miriam Butorin, the 12-year-old daughter of Alsu Kurmasheva, as he speaks about the prisoner exchange with Russia on Thursday.
RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus on Thursday expressed gratitude to those behind Kurmasheva’s release.
“Alsu’s release makes us even more determined to secure the freedom of three other RFE/RL journalists, cruelly imprisoned in Belarus and Russian-occupied Crimea,” Capus said in a statement . “We will not rest until all of our unjustly detained journalists are home safe. Journalism is not a crime.”
Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British national and journalist, was arrested on treason charges in 2022 after criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 42-year-old married father of three was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Kurmasheva, a U.S.-Russian journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, is seen in court on April 1.
Biden, speaking from the White House, said Kara-Murza holds an American green card and served as a pallbearer with him at a memorial service for the late Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2018.
Rumors of Kara-Murza’s release had swirled in recent days after he and several other Russian dissidents disappeared from Russian prisons.
Biden, in his statement, vowed to not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is returned.
“My Administration has now brought home over 70 such Americans, many of whom were in captivity since before I took office. Still, too many families are suffering and separated from their loved ones, and I have no higher priority as President than bringing those Americans home,” he said.
Russian opposition activist Kara-Murza gestures while standing in a glass cage in a courtroom in Moscow on July 31, 2023.
Biden reached out to the prime minister of Slovenia, whose country was contributing two convicted Russian spies in the swap, to secure the pardon necessary for the deal to proceed last month. The call was made only an hour before Biden publicly announced his decision to end his reelection campaign on July 21, The Wall Street Journal reported .
The prisoner swap included the release of former intelligence officer and convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a Chechen rebel leader in Berlin, according to the Journal. Russian President Vladimir Putin had been pushing to secure his release.
Two of the prisoners relocated to Russia were identified by Turkey’s government as minors, prompting speculation that they could be the children of Artyom Dultsev and Anna Dultseva. The Russian couple was recently convicted of spying in Slovenia and believed to be among those traded, according to the BBC .
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