Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan are back on US soil after being freed in a historic prisoner swap.
The plane carrying the Americans from their Russian imprisonment landed late Thursday, after taking off from Ankara, Turkey around 8:00pm local time.
In the air for about 10 hours, the flight followed a four-hour one from Moscow to Ankara. The plane landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland just before midnight, after Gershkovich, a 32-year-old WSJ reporter, was seen boarding in Turkey.
He had been accused of espionage, and was detained in Russia while working as a journalist on March 29 of last year. Whelan, a 54-year-old ex Marine, was sentenced to 16 years in 2020 after being detained two years before on suspicion of spying.
Both were freed Thursday, as part of the East-West prisoner swap – the largest since the Cold War. Also freed was Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was sentenced to over six years in a Russian prison in a rapid, secret trial late last month.
Evan Gershkovich and two other falsely imprisoned Americans landed in the US late Thursday after being freed in a historic prisoner swap. Gershkovich is seen being greeted by relatives here
The plane carrying the Americans from their Russian imprisonment landed late Thursday, after taking off from Ankara, Turkey around 8:00 pm local time
She was seen running into the arms of her family Thursday, after embracing both Kamal Harris and Joe Biden upon exiting the plane.
But it was Whelan who disembarked first, followed by Gershkovich, and then Kurmasheva, as all were seen giving Harris and Biden handshakes before blissfully running into the arms of their respective families.
Whelan had been out of their grasp for five-and-a-half years, while Gershkovich’s was without him for a year and six months.
Kurmasheva was cuffed six and half years ago by a court in the central city of Kazan, for supposedly of “spreading false information” about the military
Her family appeared ecstatic to see her again, as was the case with the other families.
Following the revelry, the three were cleared to take another plane to San Antonio, where they will be checked out by doctors and cleared to return home.
Minutes before landing, President Biden and his motorcade made its way to the landing area, as Vice President Kamala Harris, traveled separately.
Several Wall Street Journal employees were on the scene as well, anxiously awaiting their coworker’s arrival on the tarmac.
The plane landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland just before midnight, with Gershkovich, a 32-year-old reporter imprisoned last year under suspicion of espionage, seen disembarking. Kamal Harris, seen at left, was there to greet him
Harris and President Joe Biden – credited with negotiating the deal – arrived separately in their own motorcades moments before, and happily welcomed the now-freed hostages
Harris is seen greeting the wrong incarcerated Wall Street Journal reporter here, just before midnight
Biden is seen greeting Paul Whelan, a 54-year-old ex Marine also released
.He was sentenced to 16 years in 2020 after being detained in Moscow two years before on suspicion of spying
He disembarked first, followed by Gershkovich. Both got to speak to the president and Harris
The prisoners were seen speaking with the president and vice president on the landing strip as onlookers cheered, in a display that, instead of occurring in private, was aired for the world to see.
Earlier in the day, Biden – who is credited with negotiating their release – delivered remarks from the White House flanked by the hostages’ relatives, hailing the occasion as historic.
‘Their brutal ordeal is over, and they’re free,’ Biden, 81, said from the Oval Office at around noon Thursday, roughly 12 hours before the trio’s landing.
He added how the former prisoners had just left Russia and were on their way home, and revealed he has spoken to them over the phone already.
He said their relatives were able to as well, paving the way for the widely seen reunion.
Biden went on to call the multi-nation deal involving seven countries ‘a feat of diplomacy’, and one that he touted as the fruits of ‘friendship.’
Meanwhile, Russian State television also touted the agreement as a victory, after airing their own broadcast of President Vladimir Putin’s own reunion with eight Russian nationals imprisoned overseas, including a man who was serving a life sentence in Germany for murder.
Also freed was Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva (at right), who was sentenced to over six years in a Russian prison in a rapid, secret trial late last month
She was seen embracing the president as well, after speaking briefly with both him and Harris
The woman was then seen running into the arms of her family, after avoiding a prison sentence for alleged espionage
Also released were confirmed cyber criminals Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin, who were returned from the US.
Vadim Konoshchenko, who was accused of providing US-made electronics and ammunition to the Russian military, was also released from the US, while Spanish-Russian journalist Pavel Rubtsov was released from Poland.
Married couple Artem and Anna Dultsev were returned to Russia from Slovenia, where they were convicted of espionage charges.
Mikhail Mikushin, an academic who entered Norway as a Brazilian citizen, has also been released. He was arrested on suspicion of spying in 2022.
The convicts were released in exchange for 16 Western prisoners, including the three US citizens.
A triumphant Biden, meanwhile, told reporters on the tarmac as the reunions were taking place: ‘I was absolutely convinced we could get it done.’
A fter being bombarded by his Journal colleagues, a beaming Gershkovich added, ‘I’m home.’