The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free, the Associated Press has reported.
Whelan, Gershkovich and fellow journalist Alsu Kurmasheva were greeted by their families and President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington late Wednesday night.
Joe Biden, the United States president said it “feels wonderful” to welcome the freed Americans to U.S. soil.
And he gave giving special credit to the cooperation of nations including Germany and Slovenia for helping to make the global prisoner swap work, saying they agreed to difficult things that were “against their self-interests.”
Speaking on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, Biden rejected the idea that such swaps could lead to other Americans being detained. “I don’t buy this idea of … let these people rot in jail because other people may be captured,” the president said.
Vice President Kamala Harris called the deal an “extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy
