Biden and Putin greet prisoners released after largest prisoner swap between US and Russia

Moscow and Washington have exchanged a total of 26 prisoners that had been held in several countries, in the biggest such swap in modern history. The exchange took place in Türkiye.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and Russian intelligence operative Vadim Krasikov were the two most prominent names on the swap list. Russia retrieved ten of its nationals in exchange for 16 people sent to the West – 12 to Germany and four to the US.

Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan landed in the US, after being included in a historic prisoner swap with Russia.

Whelan exited the plane first at Joint Base Andrew in Maryland, followed by Gershkovich and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe. The trio exchanged handshakes and hugs with President Biden and Vice President Harris, and embraced their family members as onlookers cheered.

“Not since the Cold War has there been a similar number of individuals exchanged in this way,” said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, adding the exchange was the “culmination of many rounds of complex painstaking negotiations over many, many months.”

Earlier, Biden said the deal was “a feat of diplomacy” and thanked allies who worked with the United States on it.

“This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend on,” he said in a statement.

Sullivan said Biden would seek to build on the success to try to free Marc Fogel, a U.S. citizen still held in Russia, and other Americans held in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“I want to thank you all for staying faithful to your oaths, your duty, and your country that has not forgotten you,” President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow, meeting the returning Russians at the airport personally.

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