US Celebrates Release of Gershkovich and Whelan as Largest Prisoner Exchange Since the Cold War Concludes

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris welcomed journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, who landed in the US after their release in a major prisoner swap with Russia, according to DPA. A live broadcast at the White House showed Biden and Harris greeting Gershkovich, Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva as they disembarked from a plane at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, BTA reported.

Two planes with released prisoners also landed at Cologne airport, including five German citizens. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who cut short his holiday to meet the prisoners, described the encounter as "very touching." Scholz noted the prisoner swap with Russia and Belarus was a difficult decision, particularly because of the release of Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 murder of a Chechen exile in Berlin.

In an unprecedented operation involving Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT), a total of 26 prisoners were exchanged at Ankara airport yesterday. Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the eight freed Russian citizens at Moscow airport, as reported by DPA and Reuters, citing Russian media. Putin announced that all eight returnees would receive Russian state awards. Among them were Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murder by a German court, and two men convicted of cybercrimes in the US, Vladislav Klyushin and Roman Seleznev. Two of the eight returnees were minors.

The United States specified that seven countries participated in the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War. The swap involved Russia and several Western countries, with a total of 24 people, most convicted in high-profile cases, returning to their homelands....