Gershkovich, Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with dual U.S.-Russian citizenship, arrived on U.S. soil shortly before midnight to be reunited with their families. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were also there to greet them.
The exchange came despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest since the Cold War following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At one point, secret negotiations explored an exchange involving Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but following his death in February, a deal for 24 people was reached that required major concessions from European allies, including the release of a Russian assassin and freedom for several journalists, suspected spies, political prisoners and others.
Biden praised the exchange — by far the largest in a series of recent exchanges with Russia — calling it a diplomatic feat as he welcomed relatives of the released Americans to the White House. But the deal, like others before it, reflected an imbalance: The United States and its allies returned Russians accused or convicted of serious crimes in exchange for Russia releasing journalists, dissidents and others imprisoned by Russia’s highly politicized legal system on charges widely viewed by the West as fabricated.
“Deals like this come with tough choices,” Biden said, but added: “There is nothing I care about more than protecting Americans at home and abroad.”
Under the deal, Russia freed Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was jailed in 2023 and convicted in July on espionage charges that he and the United States denied. Emma Tucker, the paper’s editor-in-chief, said it was “a day of joy.”
“As we looked forward to this momentous day, we were determined to be as vocal as we could on Evan’s behalf. We are so grateful for all the voices that spoke up when his was silent. We can finally say, in unison, ‘Welcome home, Evan,’” she wrote in a letter posted online.
Also freed were Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed since 2018, also on espionage charges that he and Washington have denied; and Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military, allegations that her family and employer have refuted.
The three flew from Maryland to Texas and landed at Joint Base San Antonio early Friday to undergo medical evaluations after spending time with family. If they choose, they will be eligible for the treatment the military offers to Americans who have been wrongfully detained.
The freed dissidents included Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer sentenced to 25 years in prison on treason charges widely seen as politically motivated, as well as several associates of Navalny. Other Kremlin critics released included Oleg Orlov, a veteran human rights activist convicted of disparaging the Russian military, and Ilya Yashin, a dissident jailed for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
Russia has secured the release of Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison for killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services. In the course of negotiations, Moscow had persistently pushed for his release, and it was Russian President Vladimir Putin himself who raised the issue.
At the time of Navalny’s death, officials were discussing a possible exchange involving Krasikov. But when that possibility disappeared, senior U.S. officials again pressed Germany to release Krasikov. In the end, a handful of the prisoners released by Russia were German citizens or people with dual Russian-German citizenship.
Russia also took back two suspected agents who were jailed in Slovenia, as well as three men indicted by federal authorities in the United States, including Roman Seleznev, a convicted computer hacker and son of a Russian lawmaker, and Vadim Konoshchenok, an alleged Russian intelligence agent accused of providing U.S.-made electronics and munitions to the Russian military. Norway returned an academic arrested on suspicion of being a Russian spy, and Poland also returned a man it had detained on espionage charges.
“Today is a powerful example of why it is vital to have friends in this world,” Biden said.
In total, six countries released at least one prisoner, while a seventh, Turkey, participated as host country for the exchange, which took place in Ankara.
Biden put the release of Americans he believes are unjustly detained abroad at the top of his foreign policy agenda in the final months of his term.. In an Oval Office address to discuss his decision not to seek a second term, Biden said, “We are also working around the clock to bring unjustly imprisoned Americans around the world home.”
At one point on Thursday, he held the hand of Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, and said he had practically lived in the White House while trying to free Paul. Then he asked Kurmasheva’s daughter, Miriam, to come over and took her hand, telling the room it was her 13th birthday. He asked everyone to sing “Happy Birthday” with him. She wiped away tears.
The Biden administration has returned more than 70 Americans detained in other countries as part of agreements that have required the U.S. to hand over a wide range of convicted criminals, including for drug and gun offenses. The exchanges, while celebrated with fanfare, have drawn criticism that they incentivize future hostage-taking and give adversaries an advantage over the U.S. and its allies.
Tucker, the WSJ editor in chief, acknowledged the debate, writing in a letter: “We know that the U.S. government is acutely aware, as we are, that the only way to prevent an ever-accelerating cycle of arresting innocent people as pawns in cynical geopolitical games is to remove the incentive for Russia and other nations to pursue the same abhorrent practice.”
While he called for a change in dynamics, “for now we celebrate Evan’s return,” he added.
Thursday’s exchange of 24 prisoners surpassed a deal involving 14 people reached in 2010. In that swap, Washington freed 10 Russians living in the United States as sleepers, and Moscow deported four Russians, including Sergei Skripal, a double agent working with British intelligence.In 2018, he and his daughter nearly died in the UK from nerve agent poisoning blamed on Russian agents.
Speculation about a possible prisoner swap had been mounting for weeks because of a confluence of unusual events, including a surprisingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich that Washington considered a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.
In a trial that concluded in two days in secret the same week as Gershkovich’s, Kurmasheva was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military that her family, employer and U.S. officials rejected.
In recent days, other figures jailed in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or for working with the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny have also been moved from prison to unknown locations.
Gershkovich was arrested on March 29, 2023, on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without providing evidence, that the journalist was collecting classified information for the United States. The son of Soviet immigrants settled in New Jersey, Gershkovich moved to Russia in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times before being hired by the WSJ in 2022.
Gershkovich was designated by the United States as wrongfully detained, as was Whelan, who was detained in December 2018 after traveling to Russia for a wedding.
Whelan was convicted on espionage charges that he and the United States say are false and fabricated, and was serving a 16-year prison sentence.
Whelan had been excluded from previous deals involving Russia, including Moscow’s 2022 swap of jailed veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yarosenko, a Russian pilot accused in a drug ring. In December of that year, the U.S. freed notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, jailed on drug charges.
“Paul Wheelan is free. Our family thanks the U.S. government for making Paul’s release a reality,” his family said in a statement.
Source: With information from AP
