Three Americans recently released from Russian custody were reunited with their families late Thursday at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington.
Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and American journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich were met with cheers as they left the plane that returned them to U.S. soil. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted the freed Americans with hugs.
"It feels wonderful, it was a long time coming," Biden told reporters gathered at the air base, adding, "Alliances make a difference. They stepped up and took a chance for us."
The historic prisoner deal saw the United States and allies secure the release Thursday of 16 political prisoners, including the three Americans and permanent resident and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was due to return separately to the United States.
The deal also secured the release of German nationals and Russian political prisoners, including Dieter Voronin, Kevin Lick, Rico Krieger, Patrick Schoebel, Herman Moyzhes, Ilya Yashin, Liliya Chanysheva, Kseniya Fadeyeva, Vadim Ostanin, Andrey Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov and Sasha Skochilenko.
Russia, in exchange, received eight individuals.
It marked the largest prisoner swap between the United States and Russia since the Cold War.
Of the Americans, the longest held was Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who was arrested in Moscow in 2018. In 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony on spying charges that he and the U.S. government deny.
Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Kurmasheva were both detained in 2023 and were convicted in separate closed trials on July 19. The trials were widely decried as shams.
Kara-Murza, an activist and columnist for The Washington Post, had been detained since April 2022. The politician and historian won a Pulitzer for his letters written from prison.
On the Russian side, the Kremlin negotiated for the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving life in prison in Germany following his conviction in 2019 for the murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin. He had previously been in the running to be exchanged for opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in February 2024.
Other individuals returning to Russia include Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultseva from Slovenia; Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin from Norway; Pavel Alekseyevich Rubtsov, a Spanish Russian citizen also known as Pablo Gonzalez, from Poland; and Roman Seleznev, Vladislav Klyushin and Vadim Konoshchenock from the United States.
(Gonzalez was hired via a third party freelance site and did some camera work for VOA in 2020 and 2021. At the time of his arrest, VOA released a statement saying that it had removed his content “out of an abundance of caution” and informed its security office of the arrest.)
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier welcomed the freed prisoners from his country, saying, "I want to congratulate you on your return to the motherland."
Paul Beckett, an assistant editor at the Journal who led the newspaper’s campaign to secure Gershkovich’s release, told VOA earlier this year that his colleague’s jailing highlights the dangers facing journalists around the world.
"It’s certainly a reminder for all of our reporters who are in dangerous places that journalism is a risky business," Beckett said. "It is a noble and valued endeavor that some governments in the world really don’t like."
Learning that Gershkovich had officially been released brought an array of emotions for Beckett, he told VOA on Thursday.
"Joy, gratitude, tears, smiles — everything at once," he said. "We’re just delighted for Evan."
After working on Gershkovich’s case for 16 months, Beckett said he’s looking forward to finally meeting the journalist for the first time. "I’m going to say, ‘Nice to meet you,’" Beckett said.
Gershkovich was jailed in March 2023 on espionage charges that are widely viewed as baseless and politically motivated.
"We are overwhelmed with relief and elated for Evan and his family, as well as for the others who were released," the Journal’s publisher, Almar Latour, and Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker said in a statement. "Unfortunately, many journalists remain unjustly imprisoned in Russia and around the world."
Kurmasheva, meanwhile, is a Prague-based editor on the Tatar-Bashkir Service of VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The dual U.S.-Russian national traveled to Russia in May of 2023 to care for her ailing mother.
When Kurmasheva tried to leave the country in June 2023, authorities confiscated her passports, and she was waiting for them to be returned when she was detained in October 2023.
Kurmasheva had not been designated by the U.S. State Department as wrongfully detained. A senior administration official told VOA, however, that Kurmasheva became part of the negotiations shortly after she was detained, and the U.S. is glad to bring her home.
A similar deal in 2022 led to American basketball player Brittney Griner being freed in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.
RFE/RL welcomed Kurmasheva’s release in a statement.
"Alsu was targeted because she was an American journalist who was simply trying to take care of a family member inside Russia. She did nothing wrong and certainly did not deserve the unjust treatment and forced separation from her loving family members and colleagues," RFE/RL’s president and CEO Stephen Capus said in the statement.
"Alsu’s release makes us even more determined to secure the freedom of three other RFE/RL journalists," Capus added. Two RFE/RL journalists are currently jailed in Belarus, and one is jailed in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees RFE/RL and VOA, also welcomed Kurmasheva’s release.
"This is such incredible news, and I am tremendously thankful to everyone who supported and advocated for Alsu’s release in the wake of Russia's callous injustice," USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett said in a statement. "Journalism is not a crime. I am elated that Alsu is finally able to go home to her loved ones and close this painful chapter."
Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, said that since her arrest, his primary concern has been the couple’s daughters.
"They’re old enough to understand the brutality of the regime that captured their mother," he told VOA in early July at their Prague home. "We dream of our family being reunited after this ordeal."
The couple’s eldest daughter, Bibi, said she missed the little moments with her mother, like when they blasted music together on the car ride to school in the morning.
"And on the way back home from school, she would always bring snacks, and we would always talk about our day. I really miss that," the 16-year-old said.
The Biden administration has now helped secure the release of more than 70 Americans who were held hostage or unjustly jailed around the world, Biden said in his statement.
"I will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family," he said.
At a midday news conference, Biden spoke about the significance of the prisoner swap as the families of the newly released Americans stood behind him. Toward the end, people in the room sang Happy Birthday to Miriam Butorin, Kurmasheva’s youngest daughter, who will celebrate her 13th birthday Friday.
"Now she gets to celebrate with her mom," Biden said. "That’s what this is all about — families, able to be together again, like they should have been all along."
