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WASHINGTON —The U.S. on Thursday confirmed a historic prisoner swap with Russia that included the release of American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza.
In total, the U.S. secured the release of 16 individuals, including five wrongfully detained Germans and seven Russian citizens, in return for eight Russians held in the U.S., Germany, Poland, Norway and Slovenia.
It marked the largest prisoner swap between the United States and Russia since the Cold War.
"Today's exchange will be historic. Not since the Cold War has there been a similar number of individuals exchanged in this way," national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a briefing. "It's the culmination of many rounds of complex, painstaking negotiations over many, many months."
Sullivan said the deal also marks the first time so many countries and allies worked together to secure the release of wrongfully detained individuals.
Alongside the Americans, the deal secures 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.
"Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over," U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement. "The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy."
"Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over," U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement. "The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy."
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, which were widely decried as shams.
And Kara-Murza, an activist and columnist for The Washington Post detained since April 2022, was also freed. 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.
Sullivan told reporters: "It became clear that the Russians would not agree to the release of these individuals without an exchange that included Vadim Krasikov."
Krasikov was convicted in the 2019 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 from Poland; and Roman Seleznev, Vladislav Klyushin and Vadim Konoshchenok from the United States.
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 press 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 on 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.
Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.