Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan embrace President Biden upon their return to U.S. soil after being released in a historic prisoner exchange.
The plane carrying the Americans from their Russian captivity landed Thursday evening after taking off from Ankara, Turkey, around 8 p.m. local time.
The flight was in the air for about 10 hours, following a four-hour flight from Moscow to Ankara. The plane landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland just before midnight, after Gershkovich, a 32-year-old WSJ reporter, was seen on board in Turkey.
He was accused of espionage and was arrested in Russia on March 29 last year while working as a journalist. Whelan, a 54-year-old former Marine, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 after being arrested on suspicion of espionage two years earlier.
Both were released on Thursday as part of the largest prisoner swap between East and West since the Cold War. Also released was Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was sentenced to more than six years in a Russian prison in a fast-track, secret trial late last month.
Evan Gershkovich and two other wrongfully imprisoned Americans landed in the U.S. late Thursday night after being released in a historic prisoner exchange. Gershkovich is greeted here by family members
The plane carrying the Americans from their Russian captivity landed Thursday evening after taking off from Ankara, Turkey, around 8 p.m. local time.
On Thursday, she was seen running into the arms of her family after hugging both Kamal Harris and Joe Biden as they exited the plane.
But it was Whelan who disembarked first, followed by Gershkovich and then Kurmasheva. They all shook hands with Harris and Biden before running excitedly into the arms of their families.
Whelan had been out of their reach for five and a half years, while Gershkovich could not reach him for a year and six months.
Kurmasheva was handcuffed by a court in the central city of Kazan six and a half years ago for allegedly spreading “false information” about the military.
Her family seemed overjoyed to see her again, as did the other families.
After the festivities, the three were allowed to board another plane to San Antonio, where they will be examined by doctors and allowed to return home.
Minutes before landing, President Biden and his motorcade headed to the landing site, while Vice President Kamala Harris traveled separately.
Several employees of the Wall Street Journal were also on site, anxiously awaiting their colleague’s arrival on the platform.
The plane landed just before midnight at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, with Gershkovich, a 32-year-old reporter who was jailed last year on suspicion of espionage, disembarking. Kamal Harris, pictured left, was there to greet him
Harris and President Joe Biden — who are credited with negotiating the deal — arrived separately in their own motorcades moments earlier and happily welcomed the now-freed hostages
Harris is seen here greeting the wrong captured Wall Street Journal reporter just before midnight
Biden is seen greeting Paul Whelan, a 54-year-old former Marine who has also been released
He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 after being detained in Moscow two years earlier on suspicion of espionage.
He was the first to disembark, followed by Gershkovich. Both were allowed to speak with the president and Harris
The prisoners were seen talking to the president and vice president on the runway as bystanders cheered them on. It was a spectacle that was not held in private, but broadcast to the world.
Earlier in the day, Biden, who is believed to be responsible for negotiating their release, delivered a speech from the White House, joined by family members of the hostages, calling the event historic.
“Their brutal ordeal is over and they are free,” Biden, 81, said from the Oval Office around noon on Thursday, about 12 hours before the trio landed.
He said that the former prisoners had just left Russia and were on their way home, and that he had already spoken to them on the phone.
He said their relatives could do the same, clearing the way for a grand reunion.
Biden called the seven-nation deal “a feat of diplomacy” and one he praised as the fruit of “friendship.”
Meanwhile, Russian state television also hailed the agreement as a victory, after airing its own broadcast of President Vladimir Putin’s reunion with eight Russian citizens imprisoned abroad, including a man serving a life sentence in Germany for murder.
Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva (right) was also released. She was sentenced to more than six years in a Russian prison in a swift and secret trial at the end of last month.
She was also seen hugging the president after briefly speaking with him and Harris
The woman was then seen running into the arms of her family after avoiding a prison sentence for alleged espionage
Cybercriminals Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin were also released. They were sent back from the US.
Vadim Konoshchenko, who was accused of supplying US electronics and ammunition to the Russian military, was also released from the US, while Spanish-Russian journalist Pavel Rubtsov has been released from Poland.
The couple Artem and Anna Dultsev were sent back to Russia from Slovenia, where they were convicted of espionage.
Mikhail Mikushin, an academic who entered Norway as a Brazilian citizen, has also been released. He was arrested in 2022 on suspicion of espionage.
The convicts were released in exchange for 16 prisoners from the West, including three American citizens.
Meanwhile, a triumphant Biden told reporters on the platform as the reunion took place: “I was absolutely convinced we could do it.”
After being mobbed by his Journal colleagues, Gershkovich beamed, “I’m home.”
