By Thomas Mackintosh, for BBC from London, Cai Pigliucci, for BBC from Joint Base Andrews
Freed prisoner Evan Gershkovich is greeted by US Vice President Kamala Harris as he walks off a plane after arriving back in the United States on 1 August, 2024 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Photo: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images / AFP
Three Americans including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who were freed in a prisoner swap deal with Russia, have arrived back on US soil.
Gershkovich, 32, was one of 16 prisoners swapped for eight Russian prisoners in what has been described as the biggest exchange since the end of the Cold War between Russia and the West.
The exchange at an airfield in Turkey also included the release of former US marine Paul Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
After touching down at Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland, Gershkovich, Kurmasheva and Whelan emerged from the jet to cheers from those on the tarmac.
All three were greeted by US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris - before each embraced their families.
They lingered on the tarmac for photographs and conversations before leaving the air base within an hour, as did Biden and Harris's motorcades.
Speaking ahead of their return, Biden welcomed their release and declared: 'Their brutal ordeal is over."
He praised the role played by America's allies, particularly Germany and Slovenia, and hailed the release of Whelan, Gershkovich, Kurmasheva as well as leading Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza as a "feat of diplomacy".
In this image released by the US Government, US journalist Evan Gershkovich (L), former US Marine Paul Whelan (2R) and US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva (R) are seen on a plane after their release from Russia on August 1, 2024. Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva and Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza were part of a 24-prisoner swap with Russia. Photo: HANDOUT / US Government / AFP
The three released Americans will be transported to the Brooke Army Medical Centre in Texas for a medical check-up.
The deal had been more than 18 months in the making and appears to have hinged on Moscow's demand for the return of Vadim Krasikov - who was serving a life sentence in Germany for carrying out an assassination in a Berlin park.
He is now back in Russia.
In total, 24 people from prisons in seven different countries were exchanged in Ankara, Turkey's presidency said.
The prisoners were from the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus, it said in a statement.
Ten people, including two minors, were relocated to Russia, 13 prisoners to Germany, and three to the US, the statement added.
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian citizens released in a major prisoner swap with the West, disembark from a plane at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on 1 August, 2024. Photo: Kirill Zykov / POOL / AFP
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin personally greeted the released Russians with bouquets of flowers at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport.
He embraced them warmly on a red carpet and said they would be given state awards.
Among those returned to Moscow in addition to Krasikov was a Russian couple, convicted of spying in Slovenia, who returned to Russia with their two children.
Both NATO and the European Union welcomed the release which it said was mediated by Turkey.
German citizen Rico Krieger, who was sentenced to death in Belarus before being pardoned by the country's leader Alexander Lukashenko earlier this week, has also been released.
Earlier prisoner swap discussions had included jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but the offer collapsed when he died in unclear circumstances in an Arctic penal colony in February.
His widow Yulia Navalnaya welcomed the swap, describing it as a "joy".
The exchange comes after days of speculation about a major swap between various countries, which increased after several dissidents and journalists jailed in Russia were moved from their prison cells to unknown locations.
A plane carrying Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, all prisoners freed by Russia, sits parked on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on 1 August, 2024 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Photo: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images / AFP
Although secret prison transfers are common in Russia, the multiple disappearances of well-known prisoners was unusual.
The last high-profile prisoner swap took place in December 2022, when US basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged on the tarmac at Abu Dhabi airport for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been held in an American prison for 12 years.
The last comparable one occurred in Vienna in 2010, when 10 Russian spies held in the US were swapped for four alleged double agents held in Russia.
One of them was Sergei Skripal, a former military intelligence officer, later poisoned by nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury in 2018.
Tensions between Moscow and the West have been high in recent years, especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- BBC