NEW YORK – Three Americans who were freed in a prisoner swap deal with Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, have arrived back on US soil. Gershkovich, 32, was one of 16 people swapped for eight Russian prisoners in what has been described as the biggest exchange since the end of the Cold War between Russia and the West.

The exchange at an airfield in Turkey also included the release of former US marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. After touching down at Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland, Gershkovich, Kurmasheva and Whelan emerged from the jet to cheers from those on the tarmac. All three were greeted by US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris before they embraced their families. They lingered on the tarmac for photographs and conversations before leaving the air base within an hour, as did Biden and Harris’s motorcades. Speaking ahead of their return, Biden welcomed their release and declared: “Their brutal ordeal is over”.

He praised the role played by America’s allies, particularly Germany and Slovenia, and hailed the release of Whelan, Gershkovich and Kurmasheva, as well as leading Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, as a “feat of diplomacy”. The three released Americans were then sent to the Brooke Army Medical Centre in Texas for a medical check-up. The deal had been more than 18 months in the making and appears to have hinged on Moscow’s demand for the return of Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for carrying out an assassination in a Berlin park.

He is now back in Russia. Krasikov always maintained in captivity that the false identity he went under was real, but the Kremlin has admitted since his release that he was an agent with the FSB security service. In total, 24 people jailed in seven different countries were exchanged in Ankara, Turkey’s presidency said. The prisoners were held in the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia and Belarus, it said in a statement. Ten people, including two minors, were relocated to Russia, 13 prisoners to Germany, and three to the US, the statement added. The eight prisoners who returned to Russia were serving sentences on a variety of criminal charges in the West. Charges against the 16 held in Russia and Belarus included espionage and treason, but were generally considered by Western governments and rights organizations to be politically motivated  (BBC)…[+]