President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris went to Andrews Air Force Base near midnight last night to meet three Americans released yesterday from Russia. The three Americans were among 16 people — both western hostages and several Russians opposition figures held in Russia — who were freed by Russia in exchange for eight Russian spies and operatives held in several western countries. All told, in addition to the US and Russia, five other nations were involved in the negotiation: Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Belarus
The three Americans were former US Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. Whelan had been held for nearly six years on false espionage charges; Gershkovich had been detained for more than a year and was convicted earlier this year on bogus espionage charges; Kurmasheva was convicted — on the same day as Gershkovich — of “spreading false information about the Russian army,” a catch-all offense for reporting accurately about Russia’s war in Ukraine. (I suppose I just broke the same law by calling it a war and not a “special military operation,” but I’m not traveling to Russia.)
Also freed, but not on the flight last night, was Russian dissident and US permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was convicted of “treason” last year and sentenced to 25 years in prison for giving a 2022 speech to the Arizona House of Representatives in which he condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine (oh no, I did it again). Kara-Murza and two other dissidents released by Russia yesterday are now in Bonn, Germany, and will address the press today, according to a tweet from Kara-Murza’s Twitter account.
Here’s video of the Americans’ arrival; we’ve cued it up to the moment when they came off the plane: Whelan first, then Gershkovich, then Kurmasheva.
Each of the freed prisoners was met at the plane by Biden and Harris before reuniting with members of their families. Get ready to cry some; the scene of Kurmasheva being mobbed by her two daughters and her husband really got to me: Look at her youngest daughter, Miriam (she turns 13 today), just holding her mom constantly, needing that contact to prove that her mother is really there. It’s about as primal a human moment as I can think of. (At his White House announcement of the prisoner swap yesterday, Biden mentioned Miriam’s birthday and led the reporters there in singing “Happy Birthday” to her. Exactly the spotlight any adolescent would love. It was sweet.)
Also, to really appreciate how complicated the hostage deal was, be sure you read the Wall Street Journal’s account (gift link) of how it came together, with particular focus, of course, on Gershkovich, the Journal reporter. Over the course of a year, the Journal has been digging into the details of the Russian operation to seize Gershkovich and the efforts to free him. It’s incredible journalism that puts the hostage deal into the full context of US-Russian relations, as well as our relations with our European allies involved in the deal, especially Germany.
As Biden remarked at his presser with the family members yesterday, “For anyone who questions whether allies matter, they do. They matter,” a point everyone should keep in mind as we decide whether the US should be led by a Democrat who values our alliances — Harris played a key role in discussions with Germany during the negotiations — and a candidate who thinks allies are mostly out to take advantage of us and need to be shaken down for loose change.
When a reporter at the presser asked about Donald Trump’s claim that he would’ve been able to free the hostages without making any concessions to Russia, Biden replied bluntly, “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”
As we say, do set aside some time this weekend if you can to read the Wall Street Journal piece, which includes some incredible details, including this, on just how recently some parts of the deal came together:
From self-quarantine in his Delaware home, Biden, testing positive for COVID-19, was tuning out frenzied speculation about his future to push the deal over its finish line. Slovenia still needed to tick through the final legal arrangements to ship back the spies it held—and time was running out. One Slovenian official texted a Journal reporter to say he was “shitting bricks.” Biden called Prime Minister Robert Golob to nudge things along, adding wistfully: “I’ve really got to get to Slovenia.” About an hour later, he announced he was leaving the presidential race.
How’s that for a first draft of history?
[WSJ (gift link) / ABC News / CNN / Axios]
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