American journalist Ivan Gershkovitch and former Marine Paul Whelan were released by Moscow on Thursday as the United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. US President Joe Biden credited the country’s allies for the multinational deal that saw the release of nearly two dozen people.
Biden called the prisoner swap “a powerful example of why it’s important to have friends in this world.”
“To anyone who questions whether allies matter, they do matter,” Biden said.
The US President shared a photo standing inside the Oval Office with Ivan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and the families of Alsou Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, all four of whom were released by Russia as part of a prisoner swap deal.
“Today, I stood with the families of Paul, Ivan, Alsou, and Vladimir in the Oval Office as they spoke to their loved ones for the first time since regaining freedom. These families never lost hope. And today, they will be reunited with a lost piece of their souls,” Biden tweeted.
Ivan Gershkovich is a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter who was arrested by Russia on espionage charges last March. Former US Marine Paul Whelan was arrested in Moscow on espionage charges in 2018. Russian-American journalist Alsou Kurmasheva was accused of spreading false information about the Russian military.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a vocal critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2023. He has dual citizenship of Britain and Russia.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said no money was exchanged in the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the Cold War. He added that no sanctions were eased to facilitate the deal.
The historic prisoner swap agreed by Russia, the US and several of its allies, which saw the release of the 16 men, lasted more than two years, involving secret negotiations and complex diplomacy between Germany, Russia and the US, a Reuters report said.