The American president, Joe Biden, received the three freed Americans as part of the largest prisoner exchange with Russia since the Cold War.
Biden, accompanied by the vice president, Kamala Harris, received journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsou Kurmasheva and former Marine Paul Whelan at the foot of the plane that brought them from Ankara (Turkey) at Andrews Air Base (Maryland).
Whelan, in prison since 2018, sentenced to 16 years for espionage and the one who had spent the longest time in Russian prisons, was the first to get off the plane and hugged President Biden, then reunited with his sister Elizabeth .
Gershkovich, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal, was arrested in March 2023 in Russia and sentenced last month to 16 years in prison. He was received by the vice president and the president and by his parents and greeted his colleagues from the press who They had been waiting for hours for the arrival of those released.
The emotional reception was completed with the reunion of the family of Radio Free Europe journalist Alsou Kurmasheva, who was moved to be reunited with her two daughters and her husband after just over a year detained in Russia.
The president assured that he knew that this moment would come for all Americans detained in Russia and said that his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin is: "stop."
The president assured that this prisoner exchange agreement would not have been possible without the support of the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Slovenian Government, which allowed the release of prisoners required by Russia in the exchange.
Biden noted that journalists working in Russia should not be afraid, but should not "take unnecessary risks."
The United States and several European allies carried out a 24-prisoner exchange with Russia, the largest since the Cold War: 16 were released from Russia to return to their countries and eight left American and European prisons to go to Russia.