‘Day of great joy’: Russia frees Wall Street Journal reporter in major prisoner swap

Washington: 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, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.

Gershkovich, Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with dual US-Russia citizenship, arrived on American soil shortly before midnight for a joyful reunion with their families. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also greeted them.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greet reporter Evan Gershkovich at Andrews Air Force Base after he was freed in a prisoner swap.Credit: AP

On a warm, steamy night, the freed Americans lingered on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to soak up the moment of their return to the US. They took selfies with family members and friends, shared hugs with Biden and Harris, patted loved ones on the back and smothered them with kisses. At one point, Biden gave Paul Whelan the flag pin off his own lapel.

Astonishing in scope, the trade followed years of secretive back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The deal was the latest in a series of prisoner swaps negotiated between Russia and the US in the past two years but the first to require significant concessions from other countries, with seven nations agreeing to give up 24 prisoners. It was trumpeted as a “diplomatic feat” by President Joe Biden, who called the news an “incredible relief” and said the detainees’ “brutal ordeal was over.”

“Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world,” he said in an address from the White House while joined by families of four — three Americans and one green card holder — who were released.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich sits inside an airplane at an airport outside Moscow, Russia after being released.Credit: AP

But the welcome news was still sure to spark concerns over the imbalance of the deal – with Russia freeing journalists, dissidents and others convicted in a highly politicised court system in exchange for people the West regards as rightfully charged – and whether it gives foreign actors seeking leverage over the US an incentive to take prisoners.

Under the deal which took place on Friday (AEST), Russia released Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was jailed in 2023 and convicted in July of espionage charges that he and the US vehemently denied and called baseless; Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed since 2018, also on espionage charges he and Washington have denied; and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual US-Russian citizen convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military, accusations her family and employer have rejected.

Emma Tucker, the Journal’s top editor, called it a “day of great joy” and said: “I cannot even begin to describe the happiness and relief that this news brings and I know all of you wil feel the same.”

Biden placed securing the release of Americans held wrongfully overseas at the top of his foreign policy agenda for the six months before he leaves office. In his Oval Office address to the American people discussing his recent decision to drop his bid for a second term, the Democrat said, “We’re also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.”

Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich, Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan pose with an American flag in the airport lounge in Ankara, Turkey after being freed.Credit: Getty Images

In addition to Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer serving 25 years on charges of treason widely seen as politically motivated, the Russians released included Oleg Orlov, co-chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, and associates of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Five German citizens also were released, including a German national held in Belarus.

The Russian side got Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services.

Russia also received two alleged sleeper agents who were jailed in Slovenia, as well as three men charged by federal authorities in the US, including Roman Seleznev, a convicted computer hacker and the son of a Russian lawmaker, and Vadim Konoshchenok, a suspected Russian intelligence operative accused of providing American-made electronics and ammunition to the Russian military. Norway returned an academic arrested on suspicions of being a Russian spy, and Poland also sent back a man it detained.

Putin gave Russian nationals freed in a historic prisoner exchange with the West a hero’s welcome on Thursday as they stepped off a plane in Moscow, promising them state awards and a conversation about their futures.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Vadim Krasikov upon arrival of freed Russian prisoners at Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia.Credit: AP

The first to disembark, wearing a baseball cap and a tracksuit top, was Krasikov, the hitman, whom Putin hugged.

Inside the airport building, Putin, who looked visibly pleased, told the returnees:

“First of all, I would like to congratulate you all on your return to the Motherland. Now I would like to address those of you who have a direct connection to military service. I want to thank you for your loyalty to your oath and your duty to your Motherland, which has never forgotten you for a moment.

“All of you will be presented with state awards. I will see you again, we will talk about your future.”

Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich, which Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.

In a trial that concluded in two days in secrecy in the same week as Gershkovich’s, Kurmasheva was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military that her family, employer and US officials rejected.

Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.

Gershkovich was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the US. The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, he moved to Russia in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the Journal in 2022.

He had more than a dozen closed hearings over the extension of his pretrial detention or appeals for his release. He was taken to the courthouse in handcuffs and appeared in the defendants’ cage, often smiling for the many cameras.

Alexander Vinnik is escorted by police officers from a Greek courthouse in 2017.Credit: Giannis Papanikos/AP

US officials last year made an offer to swap Gershkovich that was rejected by Russia, and Biden’s Democratic administration had not made public any possible deals since then.

Gershkovich was designated as wrongfully detained, as was Whelan, who was detained in December 2018 after travelling to Russia for a wedding. Whelan was convicted of espionage charges, which he and the US have also said were false and trumped up, and he was serving a 16-year prison sentence.

After Thursday’s deal, other Americans remain detained in Russia including teacher Marc Fogel and Ksenia Karelina.

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