‘Their Brutal Ordeal Is Over.’ Biden Announces Release of Americans in Russia Prisoner Swap

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that Russian authorities have released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich along with two other American citizens and an American green-card holder as part of a sweeping prisoner swap.

The historic swap, involving seven countries and over 20 prisoners total, marks a significant diplomatic achievement for Biden and a rare moment of cooperation amid deepening global tensions. “Now their brutal ordeal is over, and they’re free,” Biden said, flanked by 11 family members of the released prisoners.

The President continued: “For anyone who questions whether allies matter—they do. Today is a powerful example of why it's vital to have friends in this world, friends you can trust, work with and depend upon, especially on matters of great consequence and sensitivity like this. Our alliances make our people safer.”

Gershkovich, who had been detained in Russia on false charges of espionage, was released along with Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine also detained on spying charges widely viewed as spurious, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist detained for spreading “false information” about the Russian military. They touched down in Ankara, Turkey on Thursday morning following their release from Russian custody.

Gershkovich, 32, had spent 16 months in a Russian prison after being accused of gathering intelligence for the CIA while on assignment in Yekaterinburg. The accusations against him were dismissed by the U.S. government as baseless, and his trial was widely criticized as a sham. His release, along with Whelan and Kurmasheva, was celebrated as a major diplomatic victory for Biden, who has long pledged to secure the release of imprisoned Americans and to support pro-democracy movements abroad.

Read More: The Fight to Free Evan Gershkovich

Biden acknowledged the critical roles played by allied nations in securing the deal, including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey. The same day he dropped out of the 2024 presidential campaign, Biden called the leader of Slovenia, whose country was contributing two convicted Russian spies to the deal, to discuss the details of the coordinated release, national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Thursday. “The deal that made this possible was the feat of diplomacy and friendship,” Biden said. “Multiple countries helped get this done. They joined difficult, complex negotiations at my request, and I personally thank them all.”

Whelan, 54, was arrested in December 2018 while on a trip to Moscow and convicted in a highly controversial trial on charges of espionage—a verdict that was widely criticized by international observers as politically motivated. He was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian penal colony after a trial that was conducted behind closed doors.

Kurmasheva, 47, was arrested in 2023 during a visit to Russia to care for her ailing mother on charges of failing to register her American passport. She was later charged with spreading false information about Russia’s military—a charge linked to her work as a journalist and a book she helped edit that criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison after a secret trial.

Asked what he would say to former President Donald Trump, who claimed he would have gotten the American prisoners released without anything in return, Biden said, "Why didn't he do it as President?"

Biden added that as part of the deal, 16 people were released from Russia—including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. “It also says a lot about us that this deal includes the release of Russian political prisoners,” Biden said. “They stood up for democracy and human rights. Their own leaders threw them in prison. The United States helped secure their release as well. That's who we are. In the United States, we stand for freedom, for liberty, for justice, not only for our own people, but for others as well. That's why all Americans can take pride in what we've achieved today.”

The agreement saw Russia release several high-profile political prisoners, including Vladimir Kara-Murza, a British-Russian dissident and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who holds an American green card, and Ilya Yashin, a prominent opposition politician, both of whom had been vocal critics of President Vladimir Putin's regime.

The swap also involved the release of Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian hitman who had been serving a life sentence in Germany, and was considered a key factor in the negotiations. The U.S. released three Russian citizens: Vladislav Klyushin, a convicted hacker involved in a nearly $100 million stock market cheating scheme; Vadim Konoshchenok, who was facing charges of conspiracy over his role in a global procurement and money laundering network; and Roman Seleznyov, who was convicted for hacking into point-of-sale computers to steal and sell credit card numbers.

The Biden Administration has previously engaged in prisoner exchanges, including a 2022 deal with Russia that freed women’s basketball star Brittney Griner. 

Emma Tucker, Editor in Chief of The Wall Street Journal, expressed profound relief and joy at the news, calling it a “joyous day.”

“We are grateful to President Biden and his administration for working with persistence and determination to bring Evan home rather than see him shipped off to a Russian work camp for a crime he didn’t commit,” Tucker wrote.

—With reporting by Brian Bennett/Washington