On a muggy evening at Andrews air force Base, Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva stepped onto American soil
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have met Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other freed American prisoners just hours after Washington and Moscow completed their largest prisoner exchange since the cold war.
On a muggy evening at Andrews air force Base near Washington DC, Gershkovich and the other freed prisoners, ex-marine Paul Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, disembarked a Bombardier Jet from Turkey and were met by their families and the US president and vice-president.
Hundreds of journalists came to the base to catch their first glimpse of the freed detainees who, combined, had spent nearly a decade in Russian captivity. They were among 16 American, Russian dissident and German prisoners freed by Russia, in exchange for eight Russians freed by the US, Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland. Those returning to Russia included a number of undercover spies and a convicted FSB assassin whom Vladimir Putin had obsessively sought to free from German prison for years.
Gershkovich, who was detained for just under 500 days on espionage charges in Russia, was met by his mother, Ella, father Mikhail, and his sister Danielle.
Gershkovich’s family said earlier in a statement: “We have waited 491 days for Evan’s release, and it’s hard to describe what today feels like. We can’t wait to give him the biggest hug and see his sweet and brave smile up close. Most important now is taking care of Evan and being together again. No family should have to go through this, and so we share relief and joy today with Paul and Alsu’s families.”
Whelan, who was detained in 2018 on espionage charges and served more than five years in pre-trial detention and then a labor colony, was met by his sister Ellen.
“Paul Whelan is not in a Russian labor colony any longer, but he is not home,” his family wrote in a statement.
