WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tears of joy flowed in the Oval Office the moment families of prisoners such as Evan Gershkovich, freed by Russia in the biggest such swap since the Cold War, first spoke by phone to their loved ones, a White House video showed on Thursday.
"This is momma. Do you hear me? It's your mom," Gershkovich's mother tells her son, a Wall Street Journal reporter, in the emotional two-minute videp of the virtual reunion, posted by President Joe Biden’s social media account on X.
"We just want to say how overwhelmed we are," Biden tells the released detainees as the families stand around the presidential Resolute Desk. "You've been wrongfully detained for a long time, and we are glad you are home."
Russia freed Gershkovich, ex-US Marine Paul Whelan and others on Thursday as part of the elaborate multi-country exchange that the White House said involved 24 prisoners, including Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov, released by Germany.
"Every parent, child, spouse and loved one who joined me in the Oval Office today has been praying for this day for a long time," Biden posted about the deal, which was negotiated in secrecy for more than a year.
Evan Gershkovich who was released from detention in Russia, is greeted by his mother Ella Milman, upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, US.
In the video Biden tells family members the detainees have been released and are heading to board the plane that will take them from Russia to the United States.
"No word is strong enough for this. I was sure I was going to die in prison," Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza tells his family as they weep.
"I still think I am sleeping in my prison cell in Omsk instead of hearing your voice."
“THE TRADE”
Earlier, the White House said the US had negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, negotiated in secrecy for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners, including 16 moving from Russia to the West and eight prisoners held in the West being sent back to Russia.
They included Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murdering an exiled dissident in Berlin, the German government said.
Paul Whelan, who was released from detention in Russia, disembarks from a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, US.
US President Joe Biden hailed the deal as "a feat of diplomacy and friendship" and praised Washington's allies for their "bold and brave decisions."
The detainees released by Russia landed late on Thursday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and were greeted by Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their overwhelmed families.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met the prisoners returning to Russia on their arrival in Moscow, saying they would be given state awards.
"Today is a powerful example of why it's vital to have friends in this world," Biden said at the White House earlier, flanked by relatives of freed prisoners.
Biden said he owed a particular debt of gratitude to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who made the politically difficult choice to release Krasikov.
The deal provides the Biden administration with a marquee diplomatic success as the US presidential campaign, pitting Harris against former Republican President Donald Trump, enters its final months.
Alsu Kurmasheva, who was released from detention in Russia, is greeted by family members as she disembarks from a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, US.
Still, the multi-country deal appeared to be a one-time exchange that does not reset the antagonistic US-Russia relationship.
US deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told CNN that US-Russia ties remain "in a very difficult place" despite the prisoner swap. "There was no trust involved in this relationship or negotiation," Finer said.
Critics said the freeing of Russians convicted of serious crimes could encourage more hostage-taking by US foes.
Trump, who said he did not have details of the swap, asked whether "murderers, killers, or thugs" were released. "Just curious because we never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps," the Republican presidential nominee said on social media.
Also involved in the deal were Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus. Turkey coordinated the exchange.
The Kremlin said in a statement its decision to pardon and free prisoners "was made with the aim of returning Russian citizens detained and imprisoned in foreign countries."
RUSSIAN DISSIDENTS FREED
The last major exchange between the United States and Russia in 2010 involved 14 prisoners. The two countries had a high-profile exchange in December 2022, swapping US basketball star Brittney Griner, sentenced to nine years for vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, for arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence.
The release of Russians convicted in the West represented a victory for Putin, who had indicated he wanted Krasikov back. Their homeland "had not forgotten you for a moment," he told them at the airport.
Krasikov is a colonel in the Russian FSB security service who was serving a life sentence in Germany for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.
Among the Westerners freed was Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal journalist who had been accused of collecting sensitive military information for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, a charge he and his employer denied.
Whelan is a former US marine who was serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on espionage charges that he denied.
Rico Krieger, a German, had been sentenced to death in Belarus on terrorism charges. He was pardoned by President Alexander Lukashenko, a close Putin ally, prior to being freed.
Also released was Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison on July 19, the same day as Gershkovich, as well as Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian-British dissident and US resident serving 25 years for treason after saying Putin was bombing Ukrainian homes, hospitals and schools.
Jailed Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza stands behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing to consider an appeal against his prison sentence, in Moscow, Russia.
Released along with them were human rights activist Oleg Orlov and Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin.
In the West, the dissidents are seen by governments and activists as wrongfully detained political prisoners. All have, for different reasons, been designated by Moscow as dangerous extremists.
Many of those freed had worked with Alexei Navalny, Russia's leading opposition figure who died in unclear circumstances in an Arctic penal colony in February. Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, confirmed the exchange had been intended to include Navalny before his death.
BIRTHDAY GIFT
The exchange comes in the waning months of Biden's term in office, years marked by a sharp increase in tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Biden announced last month that he was abandoning his reelection bid.
A Slovenian court on Wednesday sentenced two Russians to time served for espionage and using fake identities and said they would be deported. Both were among those returned to Russia, according to an official US list.
Also returned to Russia and released from the US were Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin – both convicted of cyber crimes – and Vadim Konoshchenok.
Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker posted an open letter on the X platform, calling it a "joyous day."
"We are grateful to President Biden and his administration for working with persistence and determination to bring Evan home rather than see him shipped off to a Russian work camp for a crime he didn't commit," she said.