The historic prisoner exchange with Russia took months of detailed, painstaking negotiations that directly involved the president, government officials told ABC News.
The largest prisoner exchange with Russia since the Cold War took months of detailed negotiations that directly involved the president, government officials .
The deal, which freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, involved several nations and included key exchanges by President Joe Biden, according to the officials. The deal also freed Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist, and Vladimir Kara-Muza, a legal permanent resident of the U.S.
“In the context of the war against Ukraine and the overall degradation of our relations with Russia, securing the release of Americans detained in Russia has been uniquely challenging”, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Thursday.
Biden said at a press conference on Thursday, “If anyone questions if allies matter, they do, they matter.”
Even on the day he announced he was no longer seeking re-election, Biden, who was recovering from COVID-19, was on the phone working to secure this deal, a senior administration official .
“The hour before he released that statement – literally an hour before he released that statement – he was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart urging them to make the final arrangements and get this deal over the finish line”, the official said.
