Gershkovich among 3 Americans freed in historic prisoner swap with Russia

Geoff Bennett:

The waiting, the worrying, and the dreadful wondering are over tonight for three Americans who were jailed in Russia and their families. Journalists Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan are heading home tonight after an extraordinary deal struck among the U.S., its allies, and the Russian government.

A fourth person, a U.S. green card holder, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was also released.

Nick Schifrin starts our coverage.

Nick Schifrin:

In 80 years of U.S.-Russia and U.S. Soviet spy swaps, today's was the most complex, two dozen people on one Ankara, Turkey, tarmac, Russian dissidents, convicted Russian spies, and detained Americans who will be coming home and spoke to their family members in the Oval Office on a day President Biden called historic diplomacy.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: This is an incredible relief for all the family members gathered here. It's a relief to the friends and colleagues all across the country who have been praying for this day for a long time.

Nick Schifrin:

Among those released, 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, the first journalist since the Cold War sentenced in a Russian court for spying.

Paul Whelan, Released From Russian Prison:

I got a medical condition that prohibits this.

Nick Schifrin:

Former American Marine Paul Whelan detained by Russia six years ago. Russian-American Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Alsu Kurmasheva, sentenced to six-and-a-half years for spreading false information.

They posed for a photo with U.S. officials as they flew home. Also released, American resident and Russian-British activist Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian Opposition Activist:

This personal accountability may well be the only thing that will make them think twice.

Nick Schifrin:

He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and pro-democracy activist who lobbied Congress to create the Magnitsky Act, the U.S.' most well-known human rights sanctions. He was twice poisoned, but kept returning to Russia to try and create the democratic future he envisioned, as he told me back in 2016.

Vladimir Kara-Murza:

We believe in the rule of law. We believe in human rights. We believe that Russia should enjoy the same democratic institutions that the rest of Europe enjoys.

Nick Schifrin:

To get them out, the U.S. worked with Germany, Slovenia, Norway, and Poland that held Russian intelligence agents convicted of crimes, who are now handed back to Russia, most notably Vadim Krasikov, who murdered a Russian dissident in a German playground.

President Vladimir Putin lauded his work to Tucker Carlson.

Vladimir Putin, Russian President (through interpreter):

That person, due to patriotic sentiments, eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals.

Nick Schifrin:

Slovenia is releasing Russian sleeper agents Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, who posed as Argentineans. The administration says their part of today's deal was finally secured in a phone call between President Biden and Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob on July 21, just hours before President Biden withdrew from the presidential race.

The U.S. is releasing what a senior administration official says are three Russian intelligence officials, each convicted by U.S. courts for cyber crimes, hacking or sanctions evasion.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. National Security Adviser:

It is difficult to send back a convicted criminal to secure the release of an innocent American. And yet, sometimes, the choice is between doing that and consigning that person basically to live out their days in prison in a hostile foreign country.

Nick Schifrin:

A U.S. official tells PBS "News Hour" the Central Intelligence Agency tried to secure earlier versions of this deal, in January 2023, the Slovenian sleeper agents for Whelan, in March 2023, the Slovenian sleeper agents and two other Russian agents for Whelan and Gershkovich.

Each was rejected by Russian intelligence, which each time demanded Krasikov. Germany's willingness to send Krasikov began as an attempt to try and release former opposition leader Alexei Navalny. That deal was initially agreed to by President Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz in early February.

But before Navalny's name could be formally offered to Russia, Navalny died in a Russian penal colony. U.S. officials say they negotiated for months, including a letter from Biden to Scholz, and Germany finally agreed to release Krasikov in return for some of Navalny's former allies in Russian detention, including Lilia Chanysheva and Ksenia Fadeyeva.

Russia is also releasing well-known Russian human rights defender Oleg Orlov and political prisoners Sasha Skochilenko and Ilya Yashin, jailed for criticizing the war in Ukraine, all of whom get new lives in Germany.

Joe Biden:

They stood up for democracy and human rights. Their own leaders threw them in prison. The United States helped secure their release as well.

Nick Schifrin:

But not all Americans got out. Army Staff Sergeant Gordon Black,. who's been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for theft, will remain in Russian detention, as will American teacher Marc Fogel, convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2022.

His mother, Malphine, met with former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the same day of his failed assassination attempt. As for those released, Putin welcomed the Russian spies and their families home. And the American families felt relief. They will soon see their loved ones for the first time in years.

And Miriam, Alsu Kurmasheva's younger daughter, will celebrate her 13th birthday.

Joe Biden:

Now she gets to celebrate with her mom. That's what this is all about, families able to be together again, like they should have been all along.

Nick Schifrin:

For the PBS "News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.