Dan Mitchinson: Three freed Americans back on US soil after historic prisoner swap with Russia

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva have landed in the United States, following the biggest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War. 

The returnees were greeted with tears and embraces by their joyous families at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were also on the tarmac to welcome them after their plane touched down some 20 minutes before midnight on Thursday. 

Whelan, who was first to exit the plane, gave a salute before shaking hands with the US leaders, followed by Gershkovich, who embraced both Harris and Biden before hugging his ecstatic parents. Kurmasheva rushed into the arms of her husband and daughters after greeting Harris and Biden. 

Gershkovich went quickly to address media gathered at the tarmac, telling his Wall Street Journal colleagues the words they had been waiting more than a year to hear. “I’m home,” he said. 

Biden observed the emotional family reunions, then removed his pin and placed it on Whelan’s lapel as Harris looked on. 

“It feels wonderful. Long time in coming. I was absolutely convinced we could get it done. I meant it when I said – alliances make a difference. They stepped up and took a chance for us and it mattered a lot,” Biden told reporters, referring to the extensive diplomatic effort that resulted in the swap. 

The return marks the conclusion of what Biden called a “brutal ordeal” for the three Americans and their families following their detentions in Russia, where prisoners are often kept in harrowing conditions. 

Whelan, 54, had spent almost six years in Russian prisons after his arrest in Moscow in December 2018, while Gershkovich, 32, had been detained for more than a year. Both were sentenced on espionage charges and declared wrongfully detained by the US State Department. 

Kurmasheva, a 47-year-old journalist for the US-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was detained in October 2023 and found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian army – charges her family and employer deny. 

Their release – and that of Washington Post contributor and permanent US resident Vladimir Kara-Murza, 42 – was orchestrated as part of a complex prisoner swap between Russia, the US and other Western nations involving 24 detainees in total. 

Sixteen people were released from Russian custody on Thursday, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Moscow in return got former high-ranking FSB colonel Vadim Krasikov, as well as several individuals accused of spying or cybercrime. 

In a statement earlier Thursday, Biden hailed the agreement as a “feat of diplomacy,” in collaboration with US allies, including Germany, Poland, Norway, and Slovenia. 

“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” said Biden, who hosted the families of Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva and Kara-Murza at the White House. 

Whelan, Gershkovich and Kurmasheva flew roughly 10 hours from Ankara, Turkey, on top of a three hour and 45 minute flight from Moscow to Ankara. 

They were accompanied on their return plane by multiple medics, a psychologist and US government officials including representatives from the National Security Council and State Department, a US official told CNN. 

All three and their family members are expected to continue on to San Antonio where they will be taken to Brooke Army Medical Center to undergo medical evaluation and receive whatever care they need for as long as the

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Damn Mitchison from the United States of America just in
time for the election. You get a hostage deal.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
We do. And they just touched down and landed just
a short time ago at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
The President was there. Vice President Kamala Harris was there.
Mister Biden said he was absolutely convinced he could get
the job done. And he said that, you know, the
hardest part of this, or the toughest call, was likely
not for the US but for the Allies, because he

(00:29):
asked them to do some things that were against their
immediate interest, particularly Germany and a couple of the other
countries that were involved in this. And he said it
basically boiled down to trust in relationships, and that's how
they got this done.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Very good. But I say that Trump is arguing that
Biden gives away too much when he does these deals.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, as soon as this happened, he said, you know,
I could have gotten this done. And earlier in the
at the White House, you know, Joe Biden just said, okay,
well he was president, why didn't he? Which is, you know,
tooche a good point right there. I mean Republicans in Congress,
you know, issued a statement earlier saying hey, this is
encouraging news. But then they went on to side the
cost the hostages and the diplomacy, just like you were

(01:08):
mentioning before the world wires there. So again it gets
back to the whole political bickering and not the focus
is where it should be on these hostages that are
now free, you know, some of them that have been
held for several years.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
And how did Joe look, because you know, the burden
of the whole of lations we lifted from from his shoulders.
He's got to spring in his stip he does.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
I think in this he seemed he seemed a little
more energized earlier today when he was making that call
that we just heard from the Oval office. And again
he's in Maryland right now and the prisoners just touched
down about forty five minutes ago, and he looked, I think,
very touched. And Kamala Harris, I think, you know, took
a step back in this and said, hey, this is
all Joe Biden. This is something that's been working on

(01:52):
for four or five years right now, and it was
really him, along with the allies that got this this
job done. So I think this is a fact in
the President's had.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now keeping with politics and Donald Trump. Now, the problem
with that she's promoting the fact that you're a very
successful businessman is that people are always looking at just
how rich you and then they're making stories about whether
you've got rich or poor. And apparently Donald Trump has
got poorer.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well he has not just since his trial, but also
since what happened last you know, a week and a
half ago, with with Biden stepping down and Kamala Harris
stepping up. Right now, the value of his truth Social
has has plummeted. I mean it's down about twenty three percent.
We're seeing the value of his personal stake that was
I think around four billion dollars in the middle of

(02:38):
last month is now about three point one. And honestly, Andrew,
part of this is because truth Social just isn't gaining
any traction over here. I mean, I don't know anyone
who's on this side personally. A lot of people talk
about it, and they're unique visitors tumbled by you know,
more than the third year over year in the listener.
So that's the third month that we've seen this platform decline.
And you know, Elon Musk has got to be sitting

(02:58):
over there going, you know, I was, I was worried
about this, but maybe not so much now when this launch.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
But that's diminished as well. And yeah, I do miss
Donald Trump in the Twitter. It was a match made
in heaven. Britney Spears. She wrote quite an interesting book,
quite a regulatory book as well, The Woman and Me,
And apparently it's going to the big screen.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
It is. It's being developed as a bio for her life,
and the gentleman who directed Crazy Rich Asians is going
to be directing this. He also is coming out with
a movie that a lot of people are looking forward
to over here called Wicked, which is sort of based
on the Wizard of Oz. And Spears has been very
open I think about her childhood and her relationship with

(03:39):
her family or lack of so I think there's going
to be some curiosity when this comes out. Her book
was the best seller. Her audio book was a hit
on Spotify. But the question is, Andrew, if you're a
fan of Spears and you've gone out and you've bought
the book and you've listened to it on tape, and
we've seen most of her life play it out in
front of the TV cameras of the paparazzi. Are you
willing to pay ten or fifteen dollars to see this
on the big screen? Guess a lot is going to

(04:01):
depend on who ends up playing her.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's a big role and I thank you so much.
Enjoying your weekend. Dan mitchedon out of the United States
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