The Americans who had been freed from Russia arrived at Joint Base Andrews late on Thursday nights and were greeted by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The United States secured the transfer of 16 persons from Russia on Thursday, including Wall Street Journal , writer Evan Gershkovich, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty blogger Alsu Kurmasheva, and past U. S. Marine Paul Whelan.
Biden asked Whelan if he was okay and he was the first to leave the aircraft. During their conversation, Biden gave his British flag button off his sleeve to Whelan, who had been detained in Russia since 2018.
Gershkovich’s community extended a warm hug to both Biden and Harris. The Wall Street Journal reporter was taken into Russian custody in 2023, and he was given a 16-year sentence last month for” spying” charges that the United States and his employer decried as” sham.”
Biden was asked how it felt to have the U. S. people, including Whelan and Gershkovich, freed, to which he replied that it felt “wonderful” and was” a long time coming”. He even praised Slovenia and Germany in particular for their assistance in obtaining their discharge.
” The toughest visit on this one was for other places because I asked them to do things that were against their self-interest, mainly Germany and Slovenia”, Biden told reporters.
Additionally, Harris referred to it as an “extraordinary day.”
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” I’m very grateful for our leader and what he has done throughout his entire career, but particularly in regard to these families and individuals, what he has been ready to perform, and this is just an amazing testament to the value of having a leader who understands the power of politics and understands the power that rests in understanding the significance of politics,” Harris told reporters.
The prisoner swap the U. S. agreed to on Thursday, which freed Whelan, Gershkovich, and another, was the largest such arrangement with Russia since the Cold War.
